Consequences
by Wilted Rose 060
Summary: He grabbed her cheeks in between his hands, keeping her attention on him. Her eyes held all sorts of emotions, none that he ever understood. Shame, fear, pain, guilt… and love. That wasn't true he understood that one… love.
1. Chapter 1

This first chapter is gonna be super short.

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The aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the bedroom, stirring part of a bulge entangled in the dark blue satin sheets of a king bed. From under the covers, an alabaster arm groggily reached up running a set of perfectly polished claws through silver tresses which gleamed in the pool of the sunrise flooding the room. His nose scrunched as he took a few quick inhales of the scent that had woken him. The automatic brew setting of his coffee maker signaled that it was time to get up. Letting out a groan, he stretched his arms out above his head turning to the bundle next to him. He finally opened his eyes, revealing a deep amber that lusted for the secret that lie beneath his sheets. Raven ringlets weaved teasingly amongst the covers, coaxing his eyes to follow them to the source. A greedy smile tugged at the corner of his lips, when his eyes rested on the sleeping beauty in his bed.

It wasn't until the sun rose enough in the room casting a reflection of light off a picture frame, that he became fully aware. He broke his gaze from the muse in his bed to stare at the object of the picture frame. Raven hair pulled up into a bun graced the woman in the frame. Her violet eyes peered back at him, and her sly smile sent a shiver down his spine. A picture of the one he made his wife. Next to the frame was an alarm clock whose red numbers glared 6:45 AM. A look of panic invaded his face, only for a second, as if he never once lost control of his expressions. His arms reached out to the angelic presence next to him. He gently gathered her in his arms, holding her close to him. She nuzzled her face closer into his skin, trying to bring herself back into reality.

"I don't mean to wake you, but that seems to be the problem…" the words that slipped off his tongue sounded so smooth and comforting.

_I didn't mean to wake you… wake you…_ His words echoed in her mind. Suddenly, she shot up from his arms; from out of the bed. Her crazed frame ran around grabbing for the clothes that were thrown haphazardly around the room. His eyes followed her naked figure. He knew it probably wasn't the time, but his body didn't care too much about good timing. He sat at the edge of the bed, snatching the woman back up into his arms. His lips quickly made their way to her neck suckling at her sleek skin, inciting a small gentle moan from the source.

"Wa..it… Sesshomaru…. Ok. Ok. Stop!" She quickly tore herself from the pleasure trap she almost succumbed to, "We fell asleep Sesshomaru… It's 6:50 AM. Please tell me you understand the problem with this?"

She never stopped to look at him while she lectured. She was throwing the clothes on her body, falling clumsily all over the room as she did. Sesshomaru couldn't help but be amused at her so flustered, "Alright. I understand that now is not the time." He rose from the bed to start searching for his clothes as well. He knew he should be more rushed and concerned as she was, but he wasn't. He's never slept so peacefully before. He's never been so comfortable that waking up he was lost to anything that wasn't her. Now that she was fully dressed and he had made his way into sweats, he grabbed her once again in his arms.

"Sesshomaru… I have to leave…" she whispered into his chest.

"But I don't want you to…" he whispered into her hair. As the final syllable left his lips he embraced her tighter.

Their intimate moment was interrupted by the sound of a door slamming, causing an echo throughout the floor below them and reached upstairs. He could feel her heart skip a beat. "Don't worry…" he whispered into her hair and he stroked the back of her head.

He grabbed her cheeks in between his hands, keeping her attention on him. Her eyes held all sorts of emotions, none that he ever understood. Shame, fear, pain, guilt… and love. That wasn't true he understood that one… love. Starring into the mahogany orbs that differed from the violet ones he made vows to, he understood. For the first time in his life…


	2. Chapter 2

Before hints of roasted beans wafted into his nostrils, Sesshomaru was already awake. He didn't need the coffee to know it was now 6:45 AM. Every night was the same; a struggle to sleep or find any semblance of ease. His sight wandered over to the outline of the woman next to him. It wasn't her fault that he never had a good night's rest**-** a ghastly snore erupted from the said figure. Well it wasn't entirely her fault. He has had these troubles since before her, even though she has added to the issue. For as long as he could remember his mind was never at peace. He would wake countlessly during the night or sleep would evade him as he pondered about things that always crept into his mind late at night.

The smell of the beans finally woke his bed partner. Her long pointed ears twitched as her whole face scrunched up in a pained look. She let out a loud yawn as she stretched out on the bed; her limbs stretching out into his own personal space. Once she felt properly aligned she opened her eyes to reveal her tired violet eyes. She pouted at Sesshomaru, "Is it morning already?" Her arms reached out to his face as she started to trace his magenta striped markings.

"Every morning is the same Kagura. The smell of coffee always starts at 6:45 AM." His voice nor face held any contempt. He was just stating mere fact. He had never been affectionate or playful towards her, not during their courting or even during their honeymoon. After five years, it never stopped her from trying though. Every morning she would make some remark to start a repertoire with him, or try to touch him in gentle ways that yearned for more than just sex. Today she had been a little bolder as she had done both. He had stopped her hand from wandering on his face any farther and rose from the bed.

Kagura let out a little moan of protest, "But I want to snuggle." Sesshomaru didn't acknowledge her pout for attention, and continued to make his way towards the bathroom. Kagura wasn't one to be ignored though. She snatched his hand to stop him from inching farther away from her. She brought his hand to the opening of her purple silk robe she slept in, resting his hand on the skin between her breast. "Or maybe I want to do more…" Her eyes begged for him.

His face didn't change the slightest at her advances, _'We already had sex this month.' _ Even though he had thought it inwardly to himself, he was sure she knew what he was thinking. He was no man of passion. He had sex with her once a month, because he was a male after all with needs. But he didn't desire her in the way he wanted to have her every day or even every week. He removed his hand from her chest, "I only have enough time in the mornings to get ready and leave. You know that Kagura. Stop wasting my time."

The words stung. She felt her heart drop from her chest into her stomach. She loved him more than anything, but he was an ass. He had always been this way, so she shouldn't have any reason to complain, right? It's not like he ever led her on to believe he'd be this affectionate loving husband who couldn't keep his hands off her. It may only be once a month, but that once a month was always better than anyone else she's ever been with. It wasn't her fault it made her want him more. Five years. Five years, and he's never given her more than that. She huffed to herself as she ripped herself from their bed, "I am your wife! It wouldn't hurt you to treat me like that occasionally!"

He didn't have to be in the room to hear her complain. If his demonic ears didn't pick it up, she was always sure to speak loud enough that he wouldn't miss it. He inwardly rolled his eyes. She was always so petty. If she was so unsatisfied with the luxurious life he provided her, then she could leave. She never did though, so she'd have to deal with the life he provided her. Physically and emotionally. He felt like time stood still as he completed his mundane morning routine. When 7:30 AM finally hit, he felt like he had spent the last 3 hours listening to Kagura go on about unimportant things. He was relieved to finally be off to work. He sped down the highway in his black 1969 Mustang GT. It was refreshing to feel the wind rip through the car in the mornings after Kagura talked his ear off. He pulled into the parking lot of a tall glass tower with a small sign only at the entrance of the lot: Taisho Law.

He made his way into the building up to his floor; ignoring everyone as usual. His office was the biggest one on the floor, with tall glass walls that were usually shut off to the world by his shades. It helps to keep the wandering eyes at bay. Everything was the same, as it was every morning, every day for the last few years of his life. It was annoying. It didn't matter that he was the one of the highest regarded lawyers on the east coast. Second only to his father. It didn't matter that he made more money than most men. It didn't matter that he did have an attractive wife. It didn't matter that it seemed like he had everything any guy could want. He felt stuck. He was in a rut, and nothing brought him passion or any emotion at that. He planned to continue to brood in silence to himself at his desk when something caught his attention.

Freshly washed cotton.

He couldn't believe he had been so caught up in his misery that he hadn't noticed this tiny little change on his floor. The smell of freshly washed cotton. It was refreshing, and it was subtly all over the place. Even his office. His brows furrowed at the thought. This scent belonged to someone. This unknown someone. An unknown someone who had been in his office. The smell gently filtered off a stack of legal documents in a manila folder on his desk. He curiously stared at the folder. He knew what everyone in his office smelled like. Not willingly. It was a curse and, in this case, a blessing, of being a dog demon. His hand clicked one button on his desk phone as he kept his eyes on the folder.

Only one ring went off before a voice picked up on the other line, "Yes Mr. Taisho? How can I help you?"

The voice was soft and serene. An unknown soft and serene voice. He quickly raised from his seat and walked out of his office to the desk that he rang. The words SECRETARY on a metal plate sat atop the desk. Behind the desk sat a woman whom he had never seen before. She sat confidently in her chair as she glanced up at him, "Mr. Taisho, how can I help you?"

He didn't reply to her. He just continued to observe this different presence in his life. He wasn't a hermit, who never met strangers. It was nothing like that. There was just something different about her. The air around her. Her scent. The refreshing dewy look of her porcelain skin. The long sweeping ebony tresses that decorated her figure. Her deep iris' of mahogany that starred back at him self-assuring. A human. A human who did not cower or falter in his presence. An extremely common habit he always encountered from humans the first time they interacted with him. It irked him. Irked? Was that what he is feeling? He couldn't quite grasp the feeling.

"Where is Kana?" His voice didn't sound professional like he had hoped. Just annoyed, which he detested even more.

"It's my understanding that she was let go sir. I am your new secretary, Kikyo Hatake. Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier, but it is also my understanding you don't care too much for introductions." Her voice never wavered. She spoke just as confidently as she looked despite him coming off as an ass.

When he never responded to the conversation she just continued, "I have set the Asuma files on your desk, it is your next case. I have noted and filed away the Kira files from your closed case. You will notice on your email calendar you have a business lunch with your father scheduled two months from now, at which you will discuss the Asuma files in detail before the deposition. Three of your employees won't be coming into work today as they are using today to work from home for the week. Their remote day was logged into your network schedule so you know who and when. In thirty minutes, you have an appointment with accounting about the monthly numbers. This is most likely new to you, but the meeting needs to happen this week and 8:45 AM is the only time you have available left this week. The numbers are also in the files I placed on your desk."

It was her first day and she was prepared. He would find out more about her. She seemed to be capable, but was it because she typically works in law firms or she's quick to catch on? As he never complimented the work of others, he just nodded at her to express his understanding of everything she just dropped on him. "Kanna was let go because of her inability to keep up with the needs of this firm and myself. I suggest you take that to heart, I wouldn't want you to feel like overdoing it on your first day will give you slack later." He turned on his heel to make his way back to his office, where one of the firm's lawyers followed right behind him.

"She's great isn't she?" The intruder chimed in. A tall man with unruly wavy charcoal hair and corrupt maroon eyes fiddled with a pendulum decorative piece on Sesshomaru's desk. The man turned his attention out the doors towards Kikyo where he instinctively licked his lips, which turned into a lecherous smile.

"I suppose this new hire was you, Naraku?" Sesshomaru turned his gaze to Kikyo as well as the two both watched her diligently work.

"As are all the new hires, expect for my own secretary, no thanks to you. If I had known she'd come knocking at the door I would have fired my secretary too." He licked his lips once more as he ogled Kikyo from afar.

"She still would have been my secretary since you can't hire your own, don't be daft." Sesshomaru added with his usual bored tone of voice. He watched Naraku finally peel his eyes away from Kikyo and sit down in one of the lounge chairs in front of his desk. He gently dusted off the knees of his black suit, straightening it up right after.

"She's studying to become a lawyer as well. She's incredibly smart, I did a thorough background check. She wanted to get into a law office as quickly as possible to gain the experience. I find her above exceptional, which means you'd find her at least satisfactory." He was leering at Sesshomaru now. Flashing as much white as he could from his teeth. He put off a very uncomfortable creepy vibe, and it was anyone's guess on how he was popular with the woman in this office.

"Just because she's your latest eye candy that you've become enamored with doesn't mean I will feel even remotely the same. Hopefully the little show she put on this morning is a long-term persona, not just a fleeting first impression. If she fails to preform your hiring privileges will be revoked, and I will personally see to that."

By now Naraku had crept his way towards Sesshomaru's office doors. His teeth filled smile still encompassed his face, "Of course she will. I only pursue the best." With that he slid out the door and off into his own smaller, less decorated office.

Sesshomaru couldn't help but watch Kikyo after Naraku had departed. The glass doors to his office were the only part of his office that he couldn't close off from the world like the rest of it. He always dreaded it. Having to watch the dreadful interactions of his office when he looked up from his work. But this time, it wasn't so bad. Kikyo was a true beauty. Her looks did not go unnoticed by him, though he'd never admit it to anyone. Honestly, he hasn't ever paid much attention to any woman's looks. Demon or human. He only noticed Kagura's beauty because he picked her to be with, and it was only an afterthought to the more important qualities. With Kikyo it had been the first thing he noticed walking out of his office. How could he have been so daft to not notice her when he walked in. He made note to himself that he'd have to stop inwardly sulking from now on. He's gotten too comfortable with his life that he'd let something like this get past him.

The loud sharp ring of the phone brought him out of his thoughts. He should've known who it was. He was only watching her from his desk as she dialed in to his intercom, "Mr. Taisho, your meeting is going to begin in five minutes. Conference room D. I made sure to have fresh coffee put in there for the hour. Don't be late." Before he could even utter a sound, she dropped off the call. She was demanding for such a lowly position in the office. He felt his lips and ears twitch. There was this warm feeling he couldn't place creeping through his body. It only made him more irritable and angry that he could not place his own emotions.

He grabbed the financial documents that were hidden under the Asuma files on his desk, and made his way out of his office yet again. As he passed by Kikyo's desk he felt his face, involuntarily, shift into a scowl right at her when she watched him walk by. She just nodded politely at him and looked back at the computer to continue what she was working on.

'What the hell was that?' He questioned himself as he finally made it past her work desk towards the conference room. He had no reason to dislike Kikyo. If anything, their morning encounter should have impressed him and put her in his good graces. Perhaps it had something to do with the uncomfortable sensation he got around her.

{…}

Kikyo watched Sesshomaru exit his office. He was wearing a perfectly fitted navy blue suit, white button up, and dark gray vest. She was privately thinking about the way it made him look when he passed her desk and gave her the most hateful gaze. She kept her composure and politely nodded to him. After she watched him leave off into the conference room she finally let her façade drop into her own scowl, "What the hell is his problem?"

"Good question."

Kikyo jumped at the surprise guest to her one-sided conversation, "Oh you heard me?" She could feel a slight blush creep across her nose, but she knew it wasn't noticeable. Slowly she turned to look at the man who had given her this very job. Naraku was leaning with one hand on her desk, the other in his pocket with the lecherous wide toothed smile. Kikyo had to hold back the uncomfortable shiver it sent through her body to see him smile at her like that.

"I guess your performance this morning wasn't as impressive to him as it was to me. Maybe he thinks of you as a suck up now?"

Kikyo furrowed her brows. She hated that nickname. She could just hear her cousin's voice in her head and all the time's she called her a suck up or any variation of it. What is wrong with being well prepared and working your ass off to be good at what you do? Kikyo never felt guilty about who she was. She's come a long way and it was all her own doing, nothing was handed to her. Perhaps that's why her cousin and her differed so much.

"I suppose not, but it matters not to me. I will continue to do my job, and I am sure Sesshomaru will not let his opinion cloud his judgment on my performance."

Naraku snickered, "Always so professional Kikyo. Lighten up. You can joke around and slack off with me. I got your back."

Kikyo forced a smile, "Well thank you Naraku, but I should get back to work."

Naraku was about to interject once more, but a male secretary had walked over and grabbed him away for an important phone call. He didn't seem pleased at all with that and huffed about it as he walked into his office to take his call. Kikyo let out a sigh of relief as he left, noticing the male secretary shot her a quick friendly look. It seemed as if he noticed how uncomfortable she was around him. He walked back over to Kikyo after, "Sorry he's such a creep. My name is Manten. If it wasn't obvious I am Naraku's secretary. He doesn't like me very much, but Sesshomaru won't let him fire me because he knows Naraku just wants a female secretary."

Both Kikyo and Manten laughed about his predicament with his boss, "Well Manten, I am Kikyo. It's nice to meet you."

"Yes the pleasure is all mine! Well I'll let you get back to work, if you need anything just ask me. I've been here for years, so I know a decent amount. Maybe sometime after work we can get some drinks and get to know each other."

With that he walked away leaving Kikyo a tad bit flustered, "Did he just ask me out?" She had never been good with knowing if guys were flirting or interested in her. Unless the men were painstakingly obvious about it like Naraku. Manten wasn't too bad to look at. He had emerald eyes and dirty blond short hair, he resembled Hojo, a past friend of hers from middle school. Kikyo was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a door shut close near her. Sesshomaru had finished his meeting. She glanced over at the clock and noticed it was barley 9. He hadn't even bothered to spend a whole 15 minutes in there.

"Stop worrying about the men in this office and get back to work. I need to schedule another meeting with accounting sometime at the beginning of next month. Find an hour block in my schedule that works and then go ahead and update it. For the next hour just take messages from all my incoming calls. I'm going to be going over some case files."

"Yes of course sir." Kikyo quickly started on the tasks that Sesshomaru had given her. It didn't take her mind off the fact that he had accused her of caring only about the men in the office and not her work. She felt embarrassed. That wasn't like her at all, and if Naraku was right about Sesshomaru's opinion of her, then he probably thought even worse of her now. What a perfect first day's impression for your boss.

{…}

Around 5 PM everyone in the office had started to make their leave for the day. Kikyo sat at her desk now just sorting through some old files that were unorganized. When she had asked Naraku about her work hours he told her that she would stay up until Sesshomaru stayed in case he needed her. That didn't sit well with her as she had her own schedule she needed to keep to. She walked off to the kitchen to pour a fresh cup of coffee black in a thoroughly cleaned white mug.

Sesshomaru was in the middle of sending out emails when Kikyo walked in with a mug in her hands and set it on his desk, "Excuse me sir."

Sesshomaru leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms on his chest. He gave no answer, but she took it as permission to speak, "I wasn't really told a firm time on when the end of my shift would be. While I don't mind being around when you need me, I don't care too much to only be around to fetch you cups of coffee."

Her bluntness took him off guard. She truly didn't care what she was saying as long as she felt like she had to say it, "I didn't ask you to _fetch_ me a coffee." He looked at the mug that was at the edge of the desk and refused to grab it since she had so boldly demanded how her time would not be spent on his dime.

"There was a desk note on my desktop I noticed, left over from Kanna. In bold underlined words, it says: Bring Sesshomaru a freshly brewed black cup of coffee in a thoroughly clean mug at 5 PM every day. I take it that this was a requirement of you as I can't imagine why it would be so detailed and emphasized if it wasn't important. With that said, I can stay however long you like on Mondays and Wednesdays, but Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I must be off at 5 PM. That is not optional for me, but if me leaving is an issue I am willing and happy to come in on the weekends to help whatever that was to be done the nights I can't be here."

"Yes, it is a requirement," Sesshomaru reached out to grab the mug and took a quick sip from it, "I am curious though as to how you think it's appropriate for you to come in here and demand a schedule change for you. Pray tell, what's so important you need to be off by a certain time."

"I apologize if I came off as bossing you around. In my opinion it is unprofessional to not provide me with a basic time frame to work around. On top of that, I attend classes at night on those days and I cannot miss a day because I am just delivering coffee."

Sesshomaru took another sip from the mug, "Classes… What makes you think I'd only have you getting me coffee?"

"I've been here all day and you've barley asked me for anything to assist you with. The most was your scheduling and calls. The phones automatically get sent to voicemails at 5, so there would be no calls for me to take. Any appointments in your schedule that need to be added, can wait till the next day, and you're connected to the calendar so you can see anything upcoming you have without my assistance. All files and documents that I anticipate you needing based off your schedule and cases I bring to you on my own without instruction. Anything you realize you need in addition to that, you go and get yourself. I gather that to be because you're self-sufficient and like to handle things on your own, or the latter is that you don't think I am capable of handling such tasks. Of course, the latter can't be it because I have performed all my duties beyond what is required of me."

A small smirk crept up on his face. She was refreshingly different. He couldn't help but give in to her demands as she so perceptively broke down how she came to her decision. "Very well Miss Hatake. I will grant you your schedule change you requested, with possible work on the weekends. I do not need you for the rest of the night, so feel free to leave if you wish."

Kikyo bowed respectfully to Sesshomaru and left his office. He watched her as she turned around and walked away. He watched her open the doors and gather her things at her desk. He even went to his window to watch her get into her car and depart from the parking lot. The warm sensation in his body from earlier once more made a debut.

"Miss Kikyo Hatake..."


	3. Chapter 3

I hope you guys are enjoying this, please review :)

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A month has passed by and Kikyo performed well beyond his expectations. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that she read his mind. He hardly ever had to ask her to do something, she always had what he needed before he knew he needed it, never asked stupid questions, was always punctual and always had his coffee at 5 PM. Despite all her exceptional qualities, it never changed how he acted towards her. He always came off rude and arrogant. She didn't talk or say much to him, and he started to wonder if it was because of how he reacted to her.

Kikyo walked into his office placing a few forms on the desk, "I have some PTO requests here for you that need to be approved or denied by the end of the day. I made sure they were all filled out properly and wrote down more additional details about questions you might have."

Sesshomaru had his elbows on his desk with his hands interlocked resting in front of his face. He was studying her while she had been talking. Today she decided to loosely tie her hair back with a white ribbon. She wore a sleeveless cotton pink blouse, black slacks, and flats. No make-up anywhere on her face. Although her blouse was slightly loose, her slacks were well fitted and he couldn't help but take in the curves of her body. Luckily, he had heard enough of what she said to know what she was talking about.

"I just had my meeting with the accounting department this morning, it seems they were auditing the beginning of the year and a lot of the billing didn't add up. They gave me a list of the cases I must go through and verify with myself and the attorney attached to them. I know I haven't needed you to stay past 5 PM since you've been here, but tonight expect to stay a few hours, it is a Wednesday after all. A day you _approved_ yourself. If you finish with your tasks, feel free to start on gathering all the files. I will send you a list in an email and exactly what to grab." The sarcasm in his voice when he said "approved" was very evident, but she had ignored his personal attack.

"Of course sir. I don't have much left to do today, so I should be able to grab most if not all of what you need. If you don't mind, I will start bringing them in and place them on your coffee table to start arranging them."

"That should be fine. You may go."

Kikyo had completed her final tasks for the day and started to bring in the paperwork they'd need for the night. Every time she walked in she'd give him a small smile if their eyes happen to meet. She never waited for him to return the smile or offer any type of friendly reaction. She must be determined to not lose her job that she'd remain polite towards him despite his unwelcoming demeanor. Or she just was a truly kind person at heart. All these little things, such as that, drove him crazy.

The end of the day was quickly approaching and the staff started to pack up their belongings and wrap up their business for the day. Right before 5 the phone on Kikyo's desk started ringing, "Hello, Taisho Law, how may I direct your call?"

"Uh, yeah, is Sesshomaru in?" The woman on the line sounded confused.

"One moment," Kikyo clicked the hold button and buzzed into Sesshomaru's office, "Mr. Taisho, you have a call. Are you available to take the call or would you like for me to take a message?"

"You can transfer the call."

With another simple click of a button, Kikyo had transferred the call to Sesshomaru.

"This is Sesshomaru."

"Hey, your secretary didn't sound like Kanna. Is she out or did Naraku fire another one of your employees?" The voice on the line was unmistakably his wife's.

"Yes, I didn't care too much to ask why. What did you want?"

"You don't have to be such an ass. I was wondering if you'd be home early tonight? You've been staying past five at the office every night. I wanted to go out and try something new with you. I'm sick of hanging out with Yura, and your mother has been pestering me about you."

"I will not be home. Find ways to keep yourself entertained without me." Now that he was thinking about it, he hadn't been home on time in almost a year it felt like. He always had some reason to stay behind. Sometimes as simple as just wanting to read without interruption. Nor could he remember the last time him and Kagura had even went out together or spent any time together other than the few hours every night before bed.

"How about you come home tonight? I haven't asked you to do that in a while, and you could use a break from that boring old lawyer stuff. It's not that unreasonable of me to ask."

"Kagura, I will not stop working because you're bored at home." He could feel himself getting irritated with her nonsense.

"If you do not come to me then I will come to you."

He grabbed the bridge of his nose and pinched it slightly to try to prevent the headache he was developing from this conversation. She was resorting to her normal petty efforts, no shock to him, "This Saturday I will only spend a half a day at work and then I will come home. Will that satisfy you enough to let me work?"

There was a deep sigh on the other end of the line, signaling his victory in this battle, "Fine. I will let you be tonight. If you do not keep to your word Saturday I will come down there and I will force you to pay attention to me. This needs to stop becoming the norm for you, if you don't start normalizing your days, we will have to work out a scheduled date night every week."

"I must be off now. Goodnight." As he hung up the phone he could hear her sigh as she whispered "I love you."

Kikyo walked in to his office carrying two cups of coffee with her, "I already placed the phones on night mode. We shouldn't expect any more calls unless they are calling your personal cell. So, what do you need me to do?" She placed both mugs on the coffee table away from his desk and sat on the couch.

She had left enough room for him to come sit by her, and he imagined that's what she figured he'd do when she put his coffee by her. He grabbed his mug to start sipping on but stayed standing up. He was sure there was no ill intentions behind her actions, but just still hasn't gotten over the uncomfortable feeling of being around her. He grabbed a stack of bound sheets from his desk and placed them on the coffee table with everything else. "This stack is all the financials for the first quarter. The hours, prices, discounts, etc. are on here corresponding to their case file. For each case, we must compare the file with the financials on these sheets. These are copies of the original case file for office use, so a lot of information will be blacked out to preserve the client's confidentiality. If the numbers don't match the original contract, notes, and charges the attorney documented, pull it to the side to be reviewed by the attorney on the file. Highlight the casefile on the financial sheets to keep track of the ones we are having issues with. The correct ones can be set in another pile to be put away."

"Simple enough."

"Then I shouldn't be expecting any questions from you." There it was again that attitude.

Kikyo calmly opened the first file on one of the sheets she grabbed. Without looking up at him she started to skim the file, "Tell me. Were you this passive aggressive towards all your secretaries, creating a hostile environment that they couldn't prosper in? I guess that explains the lack of retention in your office."

The question caught him off guard, "That's a pretty bold assumption of you. Twice now, you've forgotten your place. There is nothing passive aggressive about me. I simply state what I see and I state what I'm thinking. I expect nothing less than the best from my office. If they can't meet the standards and take everything personally, then I guess it's best they've let the pressure get to them resulting in the termination of their job. It's no different than you. You speak your mind freely, and to me of all people."

Kikyo still continued to keep her eyes on the file, flipping through the documents, "You seem defensive of your actions. It was just a simple question; you shouldn't take it _personally_."

She spoke with such a calmness, that it was almost difficult to hear the sarcasm at the end. Typically, he'd be irritated at this point that anyone had the gall to speak to him this way. He had fired for less, yet, with her, he found it amusing. "I wouldn't take anything a secretary says personally," he replied with the same calmness and lack of emotion she had given to him.

He was hoping it would have solicited a reaction from her that was opposite of this nonchalant professionalism she always kept in character. Instead she just chuckled under her breath and continued to browse her files. It was clear she wasn't going to continue the conversation any further so he grabbed all the files on the sheet he had to take back to his desk.

An hour had passed in which they sat in silence. When Sesshomaru had finished the sheet he was working on, he went over to the completed piles that Kikyo was creating besides her. He grabbed the corresponding sheet and one of the files to double check her work. He continued to check five of them. Everything done correctly as he suspected, "What are you going to school for?"

"I am in law school currently. I know typically you're not allowed to have a job during your study, but I've worked extremely hard to make sure my grades haven't been affected. I'm in my second to last semester, but I don't have a full load."

It all made sense to him now; why someone as efficient and smart as her would be a secretary at a law firm. Taisho law was the best place to work if you wanted to become a lawyer, and she seemed like the type to take any opportunity it took to get her foot in the door. This way she could learn and sometime soon start to gain experience while she was in school. It put her ahead of the game, since majority of all students don't work while in law school.

"What field?"

"Family law."

"There's not much money to be made in family law." It's not like he cared for the money either, but he had this solid opinion that women only wanted three things: money, sex, and love.

"I'm… I'm not in it for the money," her voice wavered slightly as if she was trying to contain the anger she felt. Despite her efforts, she couldn't mask the anger in her voice, intrigued he finally looked up from the documents he still had in his hands.

"I see, then what? Reputation? Divorced men? T-"

"Children." She cut him off before he could finish whatever cruel thing he was going to say about her character. "I want to be able to represent the children who have no say in it themselves."

"Children? How noble of you."

She slammed down her papers on the table and forcefully pushed herself up from the couch. She angrily stomped over to him getting closer to him than any woman has without his permission. She snatched the papers out of his hands, "What is your problem with me?! I've never once disrespected you, I've done everything you have asked and have not asked of me perfectly without issue. I see how you treat other employees around the office, and other women. While you're no little miss sunshine, you're definitely not this pretentious ass to them like you are to me."

He could hear everything she was saying but was so captivated by how adorable she looked screaming at him. Her nose crunched up causing her brows to furrow, and her lips were moving incredibly fast. She was using her arms to speak wailing them about around her. Everything about it gave him a strange feeling.

"Are you even listening to me?!" This time Kikyo poked him in the chest rather forcefully, catching Sesshomaru off guard and resulting in him giving this very confused look at her. He grabbed her hand to stop her from poking him again, if he had a pet peeve it would be people touching him, but this wasn't irritating and he hadn't even realized he grabbed her.

When he grabbed her, it caught her off guard as well. It wasn't hostile or rough, and that was what took her by surprise mostly. He was gentle. And the way he was staring down at her made her feel uneasy. His eyes were unreadable, but he made no effort to speak, look away, or release her. Her angry face softened underneath his gaze and she could feel her face start to blush. Quickly she snatched her hand away so she could turn from him to hide her embarrassment. Kikyo kept her back towards him and stepped away going to grab her things.

"I will not apologize for sticking up for myself, but I will apologize for poking you. I don't tend to put my hands on people without their permission, and regardless of how upset I was, I didn't have the right."

"You're different." It was all he could manage to say while he looked at the spot where he once held her. He was confused of his own actions, and in awe of her anger.

Kikyo turned to look at him and brushed away some of the hair that fell into her face, "Excuse me?"

It was as if her words broke him from a trance and snapped him back into reality. His softer facial features quickly hardened into his normal façade, "We still have a lot of work to do. I would at least like us each to finish one more list before we call it a night. No more small talk, and then continue our work this weekend."

Kikyo knew very well about Sesshomaru even before she started working here. He carried himself above others and treated everyone like they could never begin to compare. He was good at what he did, and he never apologized for how he acted. Yet, she couldn't help but feel as if him telling her they could work in silence was his way of apologizing. Giving in, she let out a long sigh and let her purse slip back onto the couch and her body followed shortly after.

She grabbed the work she had slammed on the table, "One more list in silence."

{...}

The next two days both had kept their distance from each other. If either had something to say they'd communicate through the phone. Any documents he needed Kikyo left on the end table at the front of the inside of his office so she never had to go fully in. Bringing him his coffee at the end of the day was the only time she went in his office, but thankfully he found a reason to leave his desk around that time. It was Friday and Kikyo was packing up her things at her desk, dreading that tomorrow she'd have to be alone with him again.

"Hey Kikyo!"

Kikyo slightly jumped and grabbed her chest, "Oh Manten, you scared me."

Manten sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with a huge grin, "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to. I just wanted to double check that we are still on for tomorrow night to get drinks."

"Yes, of course. I have to work tomorrow morning. I don't know how long I'll be, but I think it's safe to say we can meet at 7. I have your number so I'll let you know if anything."

"Great, have a goodnight!"

As Manten left her desk she noticed Sesshomaru have been standing in front of his office. He was giving her a dirty look and she could only assume it was because he had such a poor image of her, and her going out with Manten probably confirmed his suspicions.

"Do not be late tomorrow morning Miss Hatake."

Kikyo finally finished packing up her things and started to walk out of the office, "I am never late Mr. Taisho. Have a goodnight."

When she was sure she was in the safe confides on the elevator, and he was in his own office far away from ears reach, she crossed her arms and huffed, "I can't stand that man."

The whole way to class she kept cursing him in her mind. People annoyed her but she's never had anyone get under her skin like this. She had been so consumed in venting to herself she hadn't realized she'd made it to school and was already sitting in class. A young woman about Kikyo's age was waving her hand in front of her face, "Kikyo? Kikyo? I am talking to you."

She curiously looked around the room and then back at the high ponytailed, brown headed girl, "Oh Sango. Sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"Are you thinking about your boss again? If he's causing you that much problems, then you should just quit."

"Quit? I couldn't possibly do that. You know Taisho Law is the best law firm to work in, and I know I can prove myself worthy of a position there once I graduate. I need to be the best I can if I really want to make a difference. Hopefully soon, I can meet with Toga Taisho and impress him enough he'll transfer me up to this level. I just have to deal with working with his hard ass son. Besides, at least he doesn't mentally undress me like Naraku does."

Both shuddered at the mention of Naraku. Sango had never meant him, but Kikyo's stories were enough to give her the creeps. "Very well. I guess you could always do what Kagome says and just sleep with him. That'll make him back off. He can't harass the secretary he is sleeping with, that'd make for one nasty lawsuit."

Kikyo's face turned pink, the thought of being intimate with Sesshomaru made her too embarrassed to even imagine it. She had admitted to herself he was handsome, but she never gawked and participated in drooling over him with the other girls. "You need to stop telling my cousin about my problems. Of course, she only gives such vulgar solutions."

Kikyo considered Sango a great friend, but she knew Sango and her cousin were best friends. It only made sense Sango would share her stories with her cousin. She knew Sango meant no ill will by it, but only a means to somehow connect the three girls. Kikyo and Kagome never grew up on the same terms, there was always fighting and bickering. The older they got, they learned to handle their disagreements more maturely, but Kikyo still remembered all the physical ways they solved their issues. Both dealing about a many of scars to the other.

"Well, by the look of you face you don't seem to think it's that bad of an idea. We all know you secretly have the hots for him," Sango teased Kikyo's increasingly redder blush.

"Sango!"

Everyone in class turned to look at Kikyo when she practically screamed Sango's name at the top of her lungs. Kikyo slumped down in her chair to hide herself, "I'm so sorry." She shot Sango an evil glare, who was just laughing hysterically in her chair.

The professor walked into the room and everything resumed its normalcy as it should. Kikyo started to scribble down notes as her professor lectured, but she couldn't focus. She wrote down what she was hearing but she wasn't comprehending it. Without warning, her mind slipped away; starting to imagine how she'd seduce Sesshomaru into sleeping with her as Kagome had suggested. Every time she realized she'd been fading off into lala land, she'd mentally scold herself to pay attention.

It felt like an eternity, but class had finally ended and all she wanted to do was rush home to shower. Taking late night classes always took its toll on her. This is the life she chose and couldn't complain too much about it. Besides she was just one more semester away from being able to take the Bar exam. She went through her nightly routine as usual and sat down at her home desk to go over the notes she took in class. She had barley paid attention that night and was sure she'd need to catch up on the lessons this week. Flipping to the last few pages her eyes starred wide in horror at its contents. In between law jargon Kikyo had started to write down the fantasies she was having in class. The heat in her face increasingly grew as she read out loud, "HE MAY HAVE SAID NO, BUT I COULD SEE THE BULGE IN HIS PANTS GROW AS I PURPOSELY BENT OVER HIS DESK IN FRONT OF HIM FLASHING MY LACEY BLACK THONG THAT BARLEY COVERED MY DRIPPING VAGINA. BEFORE HE COULD PROTEST ANY FARTHER I BEGGED HIM TO TAKE ME AS I COULDN'T CONTAIN MYSELF ANY LONGER."

Kikyo slammed her notebook shut afraid to read any more. Her heart was racing and she was breathing heavily. Closing her eyes, she clenched her fist and screamed in her mind, '_SCREW YOU KAGOME AND SANGO!'_


	4. Chapter 4

Kikyo stood in front of the glass tower she worked in. She looked up admiring how the glass casted a reflection of the world around it. Taisho offices were on the outskirts of Tokyo away from the busy city life. She was glad that Toga Taisho preferred the country side, it was nice to stare at the open lands from the 8th floor. She glanced down at her watch, 7:47 AM. Since Wednesday night it was already awkward between her and Sesshomaru, but now after what happened last night in class, she wasn't sure if she could face him anymore.

"Are you just going to stand there staring?"

His smooth voice out of nowhere startled her and she jumped slightly, "No of course not…" she could already feel her face heat up just from his voice. Turning to look at him felt like the air had been knocked out of her lungs. It was like she was noticing every little detail about him for the first time. He wore dark brown slacks, with a white button-up, the long sleeves rolled to just above his elbows, a light brown vest and matching tie. Flashes of her fantasies kept running through her mind.

"Then why haven't you moved?" Sesshomaru wasn't going to wait for her to reply. He was off to head up to the office, leaving a lingering scent of oak wood. The scent drew Kikyo in, and she closely followed behind keeping her head down.

'_This is going to be torturous. Why do I let the things Kagome say get to me? Why do I even let Sango tell Kagome anything to begin with?_' her mind felt like it was overloaded.

"So, how long do you think we will be here today?" She wanted to know how long she was going to suffer.

The question irritated him. Was she wanting to know because of her date tonight with Manten? It shouldn't have upset him, but it did. He had considered keeping her late, making up some excuse that this project needed to be done tonight. It would have been a solid excuse, but he could feel his cell phone continue to vibrate in his pocket. He was positive it was Kagura making sure he remembered he said he'd be home early today. Her threats of coming to his office shouldn't be taken lightly, and he didn't feel like dealing with her interruptions.

"Curious if you'll make your date on time?" the words came out like vomit. Uncontrollable. Even so, he wasn't ashamed of them. He spoke his mind freely of no repercussions.

Kikyo's eyes flashed with anger. It was as if he read her mind and knew she was desperately searching for a reason to hate him more so that her inappropriate thoughts would go away. "One, I don't see how that is any of your business. Two, it's not a date. Lastly, I was just curious for my own self."

"Good."

"Good? What do you mean good? Good that it's not a date or good that it was for my own concerns?" She hated his damn aloofness, more than she hated his demeaning remarks.

"It means nothing more than good."

Everything was still in the same spot they left it on Wednesday. Throughout the last two days, both had grabbed a file or two do in their down time. It hadn't made a difference unfortunately, there was still a good number of pages to go through.

"We managed to finish two pages each on Wednesday for almost three hours. There are fifty pages. How soon does this need to be completed?"

"We have until the end of this quarter to review all the files and report back to accounting. The sooner the better, so that any issues can be resolved in a timely manner as to avoid issues if we were to ever get tax audited."

"I'll go ahead to start clearing out the files that had no issues to make more room in here. Would you like a cup of coffee this morning? I am going to grab one for myself."

Sesshomaru nodded in approval and watched her leave. He turned back to the massive piles of paperwork organized on the coffee table. If they could tackle this for a few hours every day Kikyo didn't have school they'd be able to get it done in about three weeks. That was pushing it though. He had a lot of work himself and not every night could be spent working on this. He's never had such a big discrepancy in numbers before, and he had a feeling something was going on.

"Here's your coffee, putting up these files shouldn't take too long. I'll be back soon." The more time she spent doing other things than being stuck in the room with him the better.

Unfortunately for Kikyo, it took a little more than half an hour, and she couldn't stall it anymore. She made it back to his office and sat the farthest she could get away from him without making it obvious she wanted to keep her distance.

"Why are you acting like you can't be near me?"

"I beg your pardon?" So, she may have been a little obvious. Luckily for her, she kept a steady and confident demeanor. "I don't know what you mean. I just prefer to sit over here in this lounge chair."

He went back to reading, he pegged her for just being weird. Unless, he had made her uncomfortable with the hand holding on Wednesday. He did notice that they had barley interacted the last two days, and he knew why he was avoiding her, but why was she. If she felt harassed should he say something to avoid any HR issues down the road, or is it best to just let it sort itself out. He sighed. He could hear his father in his head lecturing him about how to be a proper gentleman around other women, regardless if they're human or demon.

"If I've made you uncomfortable, you should just come out and say it. You're my secretary, we can't work together if you're acting like we can't be around each other. If I did something, tell me."

"You're right," Kikyo gathered what she had and went back over to the couch closer to him, "I am uncomfortable. It is nothing you did though, it is just something with me. I don't mean to make working with me difficult. I am grateful for this job, and don't want to give you a reason to let me go."

"You're somewhat of a competent secretary. I have no issues of letting you go, unless you wish to leave." Relieved her answer wasn't about feeling harassed. Naraku is typically the one dealing with these issues, and he'd never thought it'd be him in that situation.

Kikyo smiled at him, "Was that a compliment?"

"Of course not, but you're always telling me how good you are. I figured I would just let you think that if it continued to provide me with good results."

Kikyo laughed. She wasn't sure if he meant to joke around with her, but she'd take it. This was the nicest Sesshomaru she's gotten thus far. "Let's get to work, shall we?"

Four hours passed by and they had chatted casually a few times. Surprisingly, Sesshomaru found himself asking her questions more than she was asking. He wanted to know more about her, more about her life. Maybe this would help him figure out why she's different than most other human women. Kikyo was asking similar questions, so she must have been curious about him as well. He wasn't very forth telling as her about his life. He tried to keep his answers simple and to the point.

"I've noticed something about majority of these cases where the financials are off. Majority of these cases, the money is being paid by the same account, there are a lot of refunds, and the actual times worked are different than the times reported. I haven't noticed a consistency or pattern that pegs one attorney for all these issues, but it also seems odd that it has happened at least once to every attorney at this firm."

"Yes, I've noticed that as well... I'm surprised you've caught on."

Apt. That's another quality he could add to the list of things about her that intrigued him. She was going to become a great lawyer if she proceeded with that profession. It was a shame she'd waste it on family law.

"I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing that my intelligence surprises you."

"How you decide to perceive it, is your call. I don't think I've made any indication that it was good or bad. However, it is 12 PM. Did you care to grab some lunch?"

"Lunch? I hadn't realized the time had passed so quickly. Did you want me to go get you food?"

Maybe it was too soon to say she was apt if she couldn't tell he was asking her to join him for lunch, "I meant we'd both go."

"You're asking me to go to lunch with you? Uh… sure…"

"If it's that unpleasant to go to lunch with me then you can say no. It does not hurt my feelings."

"No, that's not it. I'm just _surprised_ you asked me, as you'd say: It's out of character," she flashed him a smile, "although I do want to mention. Only because you've either been ignoring it or haven't noticed, but your phone has been going off repeatedly for the last ten minutes."

He looked down to see his cell phone screen light up with missed calls and texts from Kagura. The very latest text was her announcing she was coming down here. It seems he has forgotten about her, and it was disappointing to realize he would not be having lunch with Kikyo after all.

"I see. I seem to have forgotten I made prior arrangements. Perhaps some other time then. We will call it a day. Don't worry about coming in tomorrow. We will continue Monday night." He'd love to say come in tomorrow, so that he could inquire about her date with Manten. He was unsure about what Kagura had in store for the night, and was certain she'd throw a fuss about him being late today she'd rope him into something tomorrow. Half the time he wondered why he ever bothered with marriage or tried to make it work.

They locked up the office and made their way out, Sesshomaru opted to be polite enough as to walk her to her car. As Kikyo was about to shut the door to her car he grabbed it. He didn't know why or what he was going to say until it was too late, "Since you're about to start your last semester of law school and only have one class left. Would you like for me to help you study for the bar exam? You should think twice before rejecting my offer, as I won't offer again. I'm one of the only four in the country who've passed with a perfect score. Two of the others being members of my family."

Kikyo didn't have to even consider the question, she already knew the answer before he even asked. Her whole purpose of coming to this law firm was to be a great lawyer, and though she never imagined he'd ask to help her pass the bar, she knew she'd say yes to any opportunity to help her achieve her goal.

"Of course, yes. Thank you so much for offering. We can talk about the details later perhaps? I do not wish to make you late for your appointment any more than I have."

He gave her a simple nod and walked off to his own car. It was completely out of character for him to assist others in getting anywhere in life. He had been a firm believer in people getting only as far in life as much effort they put in to it. Kikyo was no exception to that, she certainly did work hard to get where she is, and would have continued to do so regardless if he offered. He knew that, yet he still found himself offering to help. He didn't want to believe it was because he was growing accustomed to her, he'd just play it off as making sure an asset such as herself would remain with the firm. That sounds about right, he wasn't helping her, he was helping himself.

{…}

Kikyo was waiting at a bistro table in her favorite coffee shop with her class materials. It was a quaint little shop, not one of the big chains that were plastered on every corner of Tokyo. She was waiting for Sango to come join her. She casually checked her phone, there was no messages waiting for her. Sango was never usually late like this, especially without saying anything. Kikyo dialed her number and it went straight to voicemail. It concerned her, and as she was about to pack up her things to investigate, she saw Sango running through the door looking a mess.

"Sango? What happened to you?" Her hair was falling out of her signature high ponytail, her face was flushed, and she was wearing a man's shirt that wasn't too big on her but, most certainly, not hers.

Sango put her finger up to signal she needed a moment to catch her breath. In this moment, she glanced Kikyo up and down. "What happened to me? What happened to you?"

Kikyo was dressed up more than usual. She wasn't donning her typical business style nor her casual style she opted for. Instead, she was in a black strapless jumpsuit with gold accenting jewelry and heels. The only thing normal about her was her long unsecured ebony hair and natural face.

"I will tell you once you tell me? Did you get robbed or something?"

Sango's face immediately turned red, and in a low whisper she held her hand to her mouth, "I was hanging out with a certain wolf demon and I lost track of time because my phone died. I didn't even grab the right shirt."

Kikyo wasn't one for boisterously laughing, but Sango's predicament incited a louder than normal chuckle. Sango seemed so ashamed. She knew which wolf demon she was talking about and how it was embarrassing to be in bed with him given his history with her best friend. Both knew it didn't matter to Kagome, but no woman wants to have a fling with their friends ex.

"How did that happen?"

"We ran into each other at the park. I mean literally ran into each other. I busted his nose on accident and it started to bleed everywhere and wouldn't stop. You know I live two seconds from it, so I brought him over to my place to clean up and it just happened. I couldn't even tell you if it was him or I who seduced the other. Ugh, Kagome is going to never let me live this down. Anyway, why do you look so fancy?"

"I don't think I look fancy. I'm meeting a friend from work for drinks tonight." Her nonchalant attitude didn't play down the situation as much as she hoped for. Sango was staring at her wide eyed, "Is it your boss?"

Kikyo glared at Sango, "Of course **not**. Don't be ridiculous. It's just another guy from work who I talk to occasionally. It doesn't matter. I'm not looking for anything serious and I'm going to let him know that tonight. He's just a good friend and I enjoy talking with him."

"Well, I believe you, but that outfit doesn't quite send out the 'let's just be friends' vibe. Unless….. Are you gonna sleep with him and then pull the friends card?"

"You and your lude mind. I swear you spend too much time with Kagome."

"I'm not judging. I'm ashamed of what happened today, but let me tell you. I needed it. It's ok to lighten up a little Kikyo and find some relief. You've worked so hard all your life, and you've never been obsessed with love and guys, so I don't get why you won't just give up your virginity already."

Kikyo's face was probably the deepest shade of red documented on the color spectrum, "Please speak louder why don't you."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of Kikyo." Sango was smiling at Kikyo now, patting her on the back.

"Let's just change the subject please, did you bring your notes?"

Sango groaned as she fished out her notebook from her bag, "I don't understand why you need this? Your notes are always so much better than mine."

"Well, no thanks to your comment about Sesshomaru yesterday, I didn't take very good notes. My mind was all over the place."

"What are you talking about," Sango grabbed Kikyo's notebook and before Kikyo could even protest and snatch it out of her hand, she was already at last night's lesson reading the erotica in between lecture.

Sango's face dropped, "Oh my. How can you even describe something this well without having ever done it?!"

Kikyo snatched her notebook back, "I don't even remember writing it. I went to study and that's what I found. This morning was rough, but eventually my work was able to take my mind off it."

Her friends gaping mouth quickly curled into a devilish smile, "Oh yea, you were alone with him today. After writing this? Is it cause you acted it out?"

The two stared at each other and broke into a laugh, "You're right, cause he's the type of man to just fulfill random girl's fantasies. He's too much of an arrogant ass."

"You'd be surprised Kikyo. I've heard stories about him, and I know one girl who claims she's been to bed with him. He's very good at more than just his job. Clearly it's affected you this much just to think about it, why don't you let him **_un_**-affect you."

"Ugh Sango, please quit it. This kind of talk is what had me messed up last night and this morning. He's offered to help me study for the bar, so I'd rather not have any more distractions being around him."

"Wait, the Sesshomaru Taisho offered to help you? The arrogant ass who thinks of only himself? Kikyo please tell me you didn't really sleep with him?"

Kikyo rubbed her temples, "Again, for the last time I haven't. You're driving me insane. I need to get to copying all these notes. So, unless you're going to keep quiet or talk about lasts nights' lecture, I think it's time for you to go."

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I still think it's crazy he is helping you. I'll head out though, I still have a horny wolf waiting for me anyhow. I figure if I'm gonna live with this mistake for the rest of my life, I might as well make it a day and get something out of it. Have fun Kikyo."

"No Sango, you have fun."

Sango winked playfully at Kikyo and left her alone to catch up. She looked at her watch and she had exactly one hour before she had to leave to meet up with Manten. She was extremely anal about her notebooks and notes. She would love to rip out the pages or scratch out what she wrote, but that would bother her to have her neatly organized books ruined. She would have to re-write the whole notebook if she wanted to rid herself of her homemade porn. At a later date, she would have to worry about that. For now she'd leave it be and just copy whatever notes Sango took down.

{…}

Kikyo walked into the bar where Manten had quickly spotted her and waived her over to the high-top he was at, "Kikyo, I'm glad you could make it. I was hoping the boss wouldn't keep you there too late."

"No, he had plans for this afternoon so we were done by 12. I just spent the rest of my time taking care of a few errands I had and getting some school work done."

"Plans? It's been a while since he's taken a half day to have a social life. Good for him. He works too much. I hope when you become a big shot lawyer like him you don't waste your days away in an office working."

"You think one day I could be as good as him?"

"Of course Kikyo! You're great just as a secretary, I can't imagine how it'd be if you focused your attention on cases. I'm sure you could even compete with Taisho Law if you ever opened your own firm. They better do what they can to keep you around." Manten was grinning from ear to ear as he boasted about her.

"I don't think he thinks that. If he saw me as a potential threat he wouldn't have bothered offering to teach me about law."

"What? He offered to teach you? If Sesshomaru is going out of his way to pass on his knowledge, then I think that means exactly what I said. He must see potential in you. I've worked for this company for years and he's never once offered his assistance on anything or to anyone. Not even the other attorneys. He refuses all projects his father tires to pass on him that require working as a team. You should feel pretty lucky."

He was the second person today who commented on how weird it was for Sesshomaru to help her. She hadn't gotten any vibes that he particularly cared for her. If he did see potential in her then it was possible, he was trying to groom her to be a lawyer for them. In that sense, he was helping himself not her. Taisho was his birth right, and even if it had only been a month, Sesshomaru was always thinking of the future and planning accordingly.

Kikyo smiled casually at Manten, hiding the curiosity, "Let's not worry about Sesshomaru anymore. I'm tired of talking about the office. What are you drinking?"

{…}

Sesshomaru didn't know what was worse: being out in Tokyo on a Saturday night or being out with Kagura, his mother, her friend Yura, and Yura's boy toy of the night.

"Sesshomaru, doesn't Kagura just look absolutely sexy in that skin tight strapless black dress?" Yura purred into his ear as she traced Kagura's body with her own hands.

The latter was definitely worse.

"Girls, stop messing around with Sesshomaru. You know my son doesn't care to be bothered about trivial things. Of course, he thinks Kagura is sexy, there's no need to ask." His mother giggled as she teased him along with Yura.

Women were insufferable.

"Now, now calm down Sesshomaru. We are only teasing. Look, I see your father, oh, and looks like he brought your half-brother. We are almost there."

Father? Half-brother? Now, this was a nightmare. He would have to remember to never agree to things from Kagura without knowing the details first. Leaving now would not be an option since his father saw him there. He certainly wouldn't allow him to bail. He could hear the lecture already.

"Well good evening ladies. It's nice to see you. Even you, Mitsuya. I hope you don't mind I brought Inuyasha. He needs to learn to spend more quality time with Sesshomaru." Toga wrapped an arm across Inuyasha's shoulders, causing him to whip his head to the side defiantly, "Feh. Hey."

"They are just cleaning up the tables and making room for us. It shouldn't be too long. It's just a bit crowded in there, so we are waiting outside over here by this bar."

Mitsuya grabbed onto Kagura and Yura's hands, "Well, we must be making a trip to the lady's room before we get seated. Come ladies lets go. I'm sure we will be sat by the time we are done. See you inside, boys."

Not interested in getting involved in a conversation, Sesshomaru stared into the propped open doors of the bar they were standing at. Immediately, his eyes recognized the couple sitting at a high top inside. "For someone who said it wasn't a date, surely isn't dressed as so."

"What are you talking about son? Who are you looking at?" Toga walked over to see what had his son so interested in other people's lives.

Sesshomaru hadn't even realized he had spoken out loud, "Nothing."

"Isn't that Manten? He's on a date? Good for him. In all these years, I don't think I've ever heard or seen a girl in his life. About time. And look at her, she's stunning. Come look Inuyasha."

Inuyasha lazily walked over, his hands shoved in his pockets. He wasn't interested, but when he saw Kikyo he was captivated, "How did Manten manage that? She's way out of his league. I'd much rather be in there with her than having to be suffering with this awkward dinner we are going to have with your ex, old man."

Toga let out a hearty laugh and smacked both sons on the back, forcing them to take a step forward to balance themselves, "Now, now boys. We are grown men, act like it. Plus, Sesshomaru you are married. I've seen and heard how horribly you treat Kagura. That is not how a man acts."

How a man acts? Coming from that man who had a love child while he was still married to his mother. The very love child he detested more than anything. If it wasn't for his father being around, he wouldn't have been as acquainted with Inuyasha as he was. His father always insisted they become close. While both boys bared through all their "bonding" they never went down without a fight first. His boys, however, were no match for him though; Toga always got his way.

"Your table is ready sir, if you'd please follow me." Toga and Inuyasha quickly walked away, Yura's date straggling behind. Sesshomaru couldn't help but stare at Kikyo. Before his father noticed anymore he forced himself to walk away. It didn't matter if he was staring at her or not, she was on his mind now. How she looked. How the date was going. If she was going to go home alone or… He grinded his teeth together, fighting the urge of going in there and ruining their date. Kikyo had a future to worry about, she shouldn't waste her time on a secretary who had no drive or passion in life to be better.

{…}

"Manten, are you ok?" Kikyo turned around towards the entrance to see what he was looking at.

"Nothing, I could have sworn I saw someone I knew, but there's no way. Anyways, tonight was great. I appreciate you coming out with me. It's great to have another friend in the office."

Kikyo shifted nervously in her seat. She was never good at doing this. She owed the men she went out with nothing, but it always made her feel guilty to turn them down. "I'm glad you said that. Because I am glad I've made a friend in that office too. That's the point though, I'm just interested in being friends. I am not completely confident that you were pursuing something more, but I just wanted to clear that up for my own sanity."

Manten just stared at Kikyo with an expressionless face. Suddenly he started to chuckle, "Kikyo I am glad you want nothing more, because neither do I. You see, I feel like I've come to know your character quite well this last month, so I have complete trust in telling you this. I'm not into women. I have a partner. I do keep it on the low. I like to keep my love life private. I hope you understand."

Kikyo felt stupid, "Of course Manten. I am embarrassed for saying anything."

Manten reached across the table to rub the back of Kikyo's hand, "Don't be. I admit, I did flirt and mess with you, in an effort, to keep up the ruse of being attracted to women. I just didn't think I went too far as to give you the wrong impression. I apologize."

"Don't apologize. I am terrible with this kind of thing. I never thought you were trying to get with me, but I often have a horrible time recognizing what is and isn't there. It's a curse really. I had a great time though, please let's do this sometime again soon."

"We can make it a monthly thing; I'll even bring my guy around sometimes. Come on, let me walk you home. You live in the city close to the university, correct?"


	5. Chapter 5

Hello everyone! I hope you've enjoyed everything this far. I have up to Chapter 9, and I'll post them as quickly as I can review and edit them to my satisfaction!

* * *

The first thing Kikyo noticed was Naraku in Sesshomaru's office. He was back from whatever vacation he was on. She was disappointed, it was easier to work when he wasn't around harassing her. It almost seemed like he was never working. She'd have to ask one day how he even got hired. He barley took any cases, but always wore the most expensive clothing.

As usual, once he spotted Kikyo he made a beeline straight to her desk. "Ah, what a sight for sore eyes. It's great to see you again Kikyo. You're looking as lovely as ever."

"Hello Naraku, welcome back from your break. I'm sure you have a lot of work to catch up on. I'd hate to distract you from your clients." She was hoping she could convince him to leave on his own, but he clearly didn't catch the hint.

"I rather enjoy being distracted by you, my dear. I did have a question for you though. All those files in Sesshomaru's office, what are they for? He usually keeps me in the loop about cleaning house."

"We are just organizing them, nothing crazy that you need to be worried about. Is there anything else you need? I have some emails I really need to get to."

"No, thank you Kikyo. I will let you get to work, but I'll be back by later." He leaned in close over her desk, "We have lots to catch up on."

In that moment Kikyo's intercom on her phone beeped, "Kikyo I need to see you in my office." She had never been more grateful to Sesshomaru, "Excuse me Naraku." Kikyo slid past Naraku who didn't move out of her way. He enjoyed having her squirm around him, and then watching her from behind.

"Is there something you need sir?" Kikyo stood at the door to his office.

"Come in, and shut the door." Naturally, he didn't wait for her, "I need you to clear out the files we did this weekend that have no issues. Before you start that, I want to go over your new schedule-"

"My new schedule? I thought I was clear about what I was able to do, and I thought you understood since you've offered to help me."

"It's very rude to interrupt. You may be good at your job, but your lack of manners is appalling." His resentment towards her was different today than it usually was. He was typically just passive aggressive in harmless ways, but this seemed different.

"I'm sorry, please go on." She wasn't going to push back today.

"Every Monday and Wednesday night expect to stay until 8, possibly 9 PM. Saturday and Sunday you will be here 8 AM to 5 PM. My main concern is these files, getting organized and divvyed out to be reviewed. I am planning five to six weeks of going through the files and one week of getting them reviewed by the attorneys. If we have gotten enough done where we can spare the time, we can begin to go over the expected material on the bar. I expect your full attention to this and to take it seriously."

Seven days of nothing but work and school. It was asking a lot, and she wasn't sure if it was smart accepting this position or his help. She was grateful, but that was a lot of hours to ask from her. If majority of the time was committed to work, then when would she have time to study before being burnt out from work.

"That is all, you may leave."

{...}

Sesshomaru was serious about the schedule. Every day for the last two weeks she spent it either here late at the office or at school. The first few days were rough as he was more indifferent towards her lately than she was accustomed to. It made the days feel longer when she was forced to focus the whole time, scared to even start a conversation with him. Once the rumor about Manten and her started going around, his attitude became worse. Naraku wasn't happy with it either, and since then he had given Manten piles of work that kept him from socializing. Kikyo would've objected to the rumors, but she didn't mind being his cover. They were friends and she'd have his back.

Eventually, Sesshomaru calmed down. He broke the silence first, talking to her about school and how she managed only to have one class her last semester. It hadn't put them back on track to the way things were before, but it was a start. She didn't let it get to her that much. It helped her mostly forget about the mini obsession her mind had about undressing him. Coming to work in the mornings was getting increasingly harder every day. She couldn't remember the last time she was this exhausted. When she came in, Sesshomaru was with a locksmith working on the door to his office. Before she even sat her things down, she noticed he was giving her a look to come join him.

"Why is there a locksmith here? I could've scheduled that for you and taken care of it, if you needed it done."

"Last night someone tried to break into my office and damaged the lock in the process. The only badges entering the building last night were the cleaning staff. But I have a feeling someone just followed behind them onto the floor. They probably ran for it when the alarm went off. Security footage will be ready tonight to look at."

"What would they be after? You don't keep anything important in here."

"It's obvious we are going over past case files, but not what we are looking for. I'm sure whoever is causing the problems for accounting is worried we are going to catch on if they don't already know that we did. We are going to have to find somewhere else to put the files and go over them. I need your badge to update your access to my office."

Kikyo grabbed her badge off her key ring and gave it to him, "Where are you thinking of going? Your house?"

"No I couldn't bring it there; we wouldn't be able to work peacefully. We need to be able to leave it so we don't waste time lugging the files back and forth between wherever we store them." He started to think about the fit Kagura would throw, especially about Kikyo. She was an extremely envious woman.

"You could leave it at my place. If you're comfortable with that? I wouldn't mind if we worked there. I must warn you, it's probably not as nice as you're used to."

Kikyo's house. Would that be appropriate? Did he care if it was appropriate? His behavior towards her since finding out about Manten wasn't appropriate. It didn't stop him from taking out his disappointment on her. She didn't seem appalled to the idea of bringing it to his house. If she had a boyfriend and was comfortable with either, then it mustn't be crossing a line.

"Grab some boxes to pack them in today. I'll bring them to my car to make it seem like I'm taking them someplace else. After work I'll drive to your place. Does that work for you?"

"Yes I don't mind at all. It would be nice to be in the comfort of my own home anyway. Your office is nice and all, but your décor isn't meant for long hours of work."

"Very well, just leave them there when you're done packing and I'll worry about the rest before I leave. If anyone asks where I took them, just tell them you don't know anything."

"Of course sir, I'll have this done right away." As she promised, she delivered.

Kikyo watched the clock on her computer all day. Her mind kept racing about having Sesshomaru in her apartment. He was going to wait thirty minutes after she left before he did, which gave her enough time to make sure nothing embarrassing was lying about anywhere. This was something she just did on impulse; she didn't even think of the ramifications of her decision.

5 PM came and Kikyo delivered his coffee as she habitually did since she's been hired. She wasn't good at sneaking around, and this situation was cause for sneaking around. She knew it meant nothing and he knew it meant nothing, but they were both well aware of how it would look. Neither addressed the issue but it didn't have to be discussed. Next to his coffee she placed a sheet of paper with her address and phone number written on it.

"Have a goodnight sir, I will see you tomorrow morning." Her voice was on edge, and she hurried out without waiting for him to reply.

He looked down at the paper and couldn't help but chuckle to himself how she was trying to act cryptic about it. She certainly wasn't good at it, but that didn't stop her from trying. He almost couldn't wait the full 30 minutes to leave. If that wasn't how long it took just to load his car, he was sure he would have left the second she did. His brain urged him to proceed with caution. Sesshomaru being excited about anything was something to be wary of. As odd as it sounded, he started to see Kikyo as an answer to his life. He dreaded and complained about how mundane his life had gotten; then suddenly Kikyo clawed her way into his life breaking all these bias's he developed growing up. She had been a breath of fresh air.

He was surprised at the apartment complex she lived in. They were the studio apartments within walking distance of the university, but weren't usually rented out to students. They were overly expensive, and most certainly didn't fit in a college students budget. Let alone a law students budget. Kikyo must have been waiting for him to arrive. She was downstairs shortly after he parked offering to help with the boxes.

"I'm sure you're probably used to high-end living, however, that's not what you're going to find here. I'm rather simplistic. With that being said, I hope you don't develop any prejudices against me for my apartment."

She lived up on last floor, where the penthouses were. There was no way could she have afforded this. When she opened the door to her apartment he was expecting it to be decorated in high-end luxurious furniture, considering everything up to this point. It was far from the truth. She was simplistic in her very nature and her apartment reflected that. It was an open floor plan and only had the bare necessities, such as a couch, kitchen, chairs, etc. Up the stairs leading up to her bedroom loft, he could see more detail to it than the rest of the place. There was one stretch of wall the was just glass from the first floor to the second floor of her bedroom, it looked out towards downtown Tokyo.

"Just drop it around the couch, and I'll start unpacking them in the order we had at the office."

"How did you get this apartment?"

"Oh," Kikyo stopped for a second to look around her apartment. She didn't consider it to be anything crazy nice, but she knew that most college students didn't have anything like this.

"My father's best friend, who was a past professor of mine, owns it. He rents it out to me at an incredibly cheap rate. I will admit, I was lucky in that aspect."

"I see…" Sugar daddy was the only thing that came to his mind. Either Kikyo paid "rent" in other ways or this man was going to expect something later down the road. He couldn't imagine any reasonable man wanting to rent out a place like this affordably just because his friends daughter needed a place to stay.

"Please, make yourself at home. If you need anything just let me know."

"Moving everything over took up a block of time, we should get done as much as we can before 8."

Kikyo didn't know why she almost expected him to act any differently in a more private setting. Maybe she hoped he would be kinder away from prying office eyes, but he just was always going to be an ass through and through.

"Do your parents not live in the city?"

They had been quiet for so long it startled her to hear him talk, "My parents? No, they don't live in the city."

"Your father doesn't find it odd his best friend rents a place like this to you?"

"I'm sure my father would be very grateful to him." There was a slight somberness to her.

"Would?"

"Both of my parents passed when I was younger. My father's friend has done his best to look out for me, and this is one of the ways he feels he can honor my father's memory."

In an alternate universe, Sesshomaru maybe would have felt bad about calling him a sugar daddy. "He must have been close with your father to help you out like this."

'_He's opening up a bit more to conversation…_' it was a good sign that he was asking about her life once again. She didn't know what had made him so angry before, but she was relieved it seemed to be ending. Her phone started vibrating against the table. She saw Maten's name pop up on the screen, "Oh…"

"What is it?"

"I am really sorry about this, but Manten is on his way over. He comes over occasionally, and I forgot tonight was one. He should be here a little after 8. I don't mind that you're here, but did you want him to know you were here? I planned on putting up all the files so he won't see them."

Any, and all, excitement he had about being in her apartment and learning more about her disappeared. Kikyo stayed at the office until 8 PM and because he experienced it, he knew it took her at least 20 minutes to get home from work, without traffic. If Manten was getting here a little after 8 that means he's been to her home before and she's been letting him come without her being here.

"I expect to work till 8 PM and not be rushed out 15 minutes early because you are more concerned about meeting your boyfriend than working. This is something that no one can know about and that doesn't excuse him. I expect this to never happen again."

All their progress just flew out the door, "I said I was sorry. I forgot and it won't happen again. I am in no way rushing you out, but I don't understand why you're so upset."

Sesshomaru was already up and walking out of her apartment. Kikyo cursed him under her breath. At this rate, he probably was going to back out of helping her. She couldn't win with him.

{…}

The following time they met, he stopped starting the small talk and whenever she attempted to start he would ask her how many files she had gotten through. If she tried to pry about how he was treating her, he kept saying it was him being professional towards her and not giving her any special treatment. His behavior continued through the weekend.

She was in the break room starting the coffee pot for Sesshomaru's daily 5 PM coffee while she was reminiscing the weekend. Manten walked into the break room stretching his arms to the ceiling and yawning. "That felt good. Hey Kikyo! How was your day today?!"

"It was decent. You seem rather chipper than usual since Naraku started over working you."

Manten put an arm around Kikyo's waist, "Oh my dear, when you've had a night of crazy intense, passionate sex like we did last night, you'd find it hard to be anything but in a good mood." Kikyo knew who 'we' was, and it was the only way he could openly talk about his partner without causing suspicion.

"I don't think I pay you to be bothering my secretary every chance you get. Perhaps I shouldn't hold Naraku back any longer from firing you. It's 5 PM, clock out and leave."

Manten and Kikyo jumped at the venomous tone and aura emitting from Sesshomaru, "Yes sir. I apologize. Kikyo have a good night. Sesshomaru, goodnight." He quickly ran out of the breakroom before getting fired was back as an option.

Sesshomaru grabbed the coffee cup from Kikyo and stormed off to his office. After collecting herself, she ran out after him, barging in full of contempt, "What was that about? Bothering your secretary? It was 5, he was getting ready to leave work. I was just fixing a cup of coffee."

"Who you date is your concern, but when he is in this office causing distractions and talking about how well he fucked you, it becomes my concern. I told you I expected your full attention and commitment to this, but you've been a disappointment."

"How well he _fucked_ me? That's enough from you. Manten isn't even my boyfriend, and isn't _fucking_ me, as you so eloquently put it. The men in this office have said much worse aloud and to the women of this office. Still, I have never seen you threaten them. I've sat here while you griped about me every day, and I just let you despite if it was true or not. But I've had enough. We will not be meeting tonight. I will pack all the files and bring them back to your office for you to work on yourself. This will be my two week's notice."

Kikyo stormed out of the office. To her surprise she ran into a rather tall man who could have been Sesshomaru's twin. His silver hair was tied up in a long ponytail, and his face shared similar markings to Sesshomaru. She knew right away who it was, "Oh Mr. Taisho. I apologize for running into you. I was just on my way out, and wasn't paying attention."

Toga had a strange look on his face, "Who might you be?"

Kikyo bowed to him, "How rude of me. I am Kikyo Hatake, Sesshomaru's secretary. We've spoken on the phone and through emails a few times. At least now you finally can put a face to the name."

"Please stand up my dear, I don't need you to bow to me. It was nice to meet you. You may head home now."

Toga's scrutinizing look left Kikyo to stare back at his son who was watching them from his office. Once she excused herself, Toga shared a questionable look at Sesshomaru. He had forgotten the true reason for his visit now that he had met Kikyo. Sesshomaru retreated further into his office to his desk waiting on his father.

"So, I see that the woman Manten went out with was your secretary. It's interesting looking back on that night. It makes sense you were talking about Kikyo. In all the years Manten has been with this company, you've never once showed interested in his life, and yet seemed to be so concerned on how he was dressed for a date. Certainly, it was Kikyo, in fact, who you had an issue with. Interesting indeed."

Sesshomaru didn't want to entertain his father's musings. He wasn't doing anything wrong.

"I won't pretend to know what's going on, but what I do know is that I can't let you fire or threaten to fire Manten over Kikyo."

"Nothing is going on. Manten was being inappropriate, and that is the only reason I gave him a hard time. I assume you overheard?"

"Well, son, the simple fact that you hadn't even picked up I had been in the office, tells me it was more than just Manten being inappropriate. I will remind you just once, that you are a married man. Furthermore, I am well aware of Kikyo and her position in this office. It is pleasant to finally put a face to a name. You've yet to have such an efficient secretary, and we've yet to see such a talented aspiring attorney grace our offices. Not to mention the balls it takes to stand up to you. Is it in our best interest to let her quit?"

"I will say this just once as well, father. I have no relationship beyond her being my secretary. I do not beg or seek anyone out, if she wishes to resign I will not fight it."

Toga smiled eerily at his son, "Of course. Very well. I was coming down to see how the accounting issue was coming along. I overheard enough to know it's still not done. Don't let this setback slow down it's resolution. Keep me updated with the final results."

Sesshomaru didn't have time to fully process what happened between Kikyo and him when his father arrived. With him being gone he could finally contemplate what she yelled at him.

_**Manten isn't even my boyfriend.**_

Had she been telling the truth? Lying wasn't one of the traits he mentally noted about her, but how well could he know? The facts were all there, but he had always jumped to conclusions and never heard her mention anything in that regards about him. Could his quick judgments cost him his valuable secretary? He did need to go get the files from her. Now that she put in her two weeks, it wasn't safe to leave the files with her. She could act out as a disgruntled employee and leak information. He would go get them from her tonight. If he happened to find out if she was single in the process, then that would just be an accidental result of going over there. If that cleared up the miscommunication for them, and she rescinded her two weeks' notice, then that would be fine too.

Kikyo had just finished showering and getting into her pajamas when she heard a knock at her door. It wasn't late, but she wasn't expecting company either. It was alarming to see Sesshomaru through her peep hole.

"I thought I told you not to come tonight." She barley opened the door to talk to him, leaving the security chain still intact.

"I don't intend to talk through the door."

"Fine," she undid the chain and opened the door further to allow him in, "What did you want?"

"My father's company is one day going to be my company. As you have seen, whoever has been falsifying records stands to be a big risk for the us. I intend not to let anything interfere with me solving this issue. When it seemed as if Manten was your boyfriend and letting you alter your ambitions with the company; I saw it as you jeopardizing my family's legacy."

That was simple enough for him. It wasn't necessarily an apology, and it didn't let on to anything more than business.

"I have done more than enough to prove myself to you and the company. You've had to have seen that if you trusted only me to help you with the files."

Kikyo's wet hair was beginning to soak the white shirt she was wearing revealing patches of her porcelain skin. She wasn't wearing a bra underneath and it was becoming rather distracting. He turned his back to her and started to walk towards the view of Tokyo.

"If you're not compromising what we are doing then I would accept it if you decided to stay with the company."

"I am not dating Manten. I am not sleeping with him or anyone in the office. I want your trust Sesshomaru."

Trust? Is that something women wanted? Did he even trust Kikyo?

"I will accept that you're telling me you're not involved with anyone. I offered to assist you with studying before, and I'd like to keep my word. If you'd like we can focus on your school work for now opposed to working on the files."

Kikyo felt her frustration fade away. Yes, above anything else she'd love to get some school work to done. Her finals for this semester were next week and she hadn't had much time to devote to studying, "I'd love to revoke my resignation if I could get some studying done."

"Very well, if you that is what you wish."

He wasn't slick. She could read past his words. He was too proud to come here acting like he was apologizing for his behavior or asking her to stay. He always loved to make it seem like he couldn't possibly want something from another being. It was flattering to be someone he could want from, regardless if it was just for her skill.

"I'll go grab the books from my room, please sit. I'll be down soon."

Without thinking, she sat close enough to him on the couch that their thighs were touching. She immediately had opened her books and started talking about her class, that she hadn't noticed her proximity. Sesshomaru instantly noticed the sudden contact. It was the same as the night he grabbed her hand. The connection ignited a fire within him. He wanted more of this foreign feeling. It was clear to him now, that he could only get this from Kikyo…


	6. Chapter 6

Kikyo noticed a drastic change in her relationship with Sesshomaru over the next few weeks after clearing the air about Manten. It's not like his words changed, or he suddenly was spilling his deepest secrets to her. His eyes didn't stare her down with a hardened threatening glare. His tone wasn't harsh and demanding. If she had to guess, this was the real Sesshomaru.

She could have sworn she was going crazy as the days went on. There were times when it seemed like Sesshomaru would go out of his way to be near her or touch her. He'd stand close enough when pointing out information on paperwork that she could feel the heat from his body. When he would grab anything she handed to him, he'd reach far enough to touch her hand slightly. Sometimes he would stare so intensely at her, it felt like he was devouring her soul. She had to admit, she enjoyed it. She would never be able to know if it was purposefully, but she hoped it wouldn't stop. She even initiated it sometimes. It was dangerous territory she was falling into.

Sesshomaru had noticed Kikyo was responding to the way he was treating her. There wasn't this uncomfortable tension between them anymore. With every physical connection, he yearned for more. They never spoke aloud about what was happening between them, if anything was even happening between them. Neither was sure how the other felt, or if there was something to be felt by the other. Because of the uncertainty, Kikyo never told Sango or Manten about it. If she was just imagining all of this, she didn't want the embarrassment of having to explain to her friends she was demented. She would much rather deal with the unrequited feelings herself.

"Kikyo?"

"Huh?" She blinked a few times to recollect herself. Lately, she found herself zoning out because her mind always seemed to wander back to Sesshomaru. Who surprisingly, was the one calling her.

"I'd like to bring the files back to the office tonight."

"Are you sure? I thought you wanted to keep them away from everyone."

"The only ones at your house now are the ones with issues. We already documented which case numbers each attorney is going to go over. It's time the attorney's get them back to start. We can bring them back tonight and make copies, to make sure nothing in the attorney's possession gets altered. That way tomorrow they're ready to be handed out and reviewed. We can drive in my car to your apartment, and after we grab them we can stop to get dinner before coming back to work. It might take later than 8 PM, plus I believe I told you before that on another occasion I'd take you out to eat."

"Dinner?" Kikyo held back the blush making its way onto her cheeks, '_What could this mean_?'

He had offered to take her to lunch a while back, before anything had gotten confusing. He didn't mean anything by it then, so it's possible he meant nothing by it tonight. "Yea, that would be nice. I'll finish up some things, and then we can go. I'm sure everyone will be cleared out by then."

"I'll be in my office when you are ready."

{…}

Sesshomaru had picked a restaurant that specialized in ramen, as that is what Kikyo requested to have. If he had it his way, he'd be treating her to somewhere classier with great food. He couldn't remember the last time he even had ramen. Not since he was a child when his father told him about his infidelity with Inuyasha's mother and her pregnancy. Coincidentally, Inuyasha's favorite dish was ramen.

The hostess was a bird demon who was instantly interested in Sesshomaru. She leaned in against the podium to push up her cleavage through her barley buttoned up white shirt. She twirled a piece of hair and acted overly excited to be assisting him. It made Kikyo sick to see someone fall apart so easily and lose all self-respect.

Sesshomaru wasn't impressed with her courting either. When she offered to show them to a table he wrapped his arm around Kikyo's waist attempting to dissuade the girl. She instantly pouted and slammed the menus on the table, "Here. Gabriel is your server."

The way her attitude immediately changed amused Kikyo. Kikyo wasn't alienated from the idea that demons held themselves at a higher regard than humans. She faced discrimination constantly over it, and she was sure it was the other way around as well. She would not lie; it was satisfying to watch the demoness feel disrespected after she was flaunting so confidently.

"Was that uncomfortable for you?" he asked once the girl had resumed her place at the front of the restaurant greeting guest.

"No, it surprised me, but it wasn't uncomfortable." The look in her eyes surprised him just as much as he surprised her. Had this been different circumstances and he knew they were both there under the impression of it being a date, he would have taken her home right that second. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. He was a married man and she was his secretary. She had always been professional about their work and never let on to want anything more. At this point, anything he thought he saw was just an assumption.

"I guess you're used to that kind of thing, aren't you?" she asked him casually.

"What? Women?"

"Hello, I'm Gabriel. I'll be taking care of you tonight. Do you know what you'd like to drink?"

The waiter couldn't have had more perfect timing, "I'd just like a water."

"I'll do a double whiskey on the rocks."

"Of course, and do you guys need more time to look at the menu?"

"No, I'm ready!" Kikyo didn't mean to sound overzealous, but she wanted to be able to talk to Sesshomaru before she lost all her nerve asking him about his personal life.

"I'll have the seafood ramen bowl, please," she tried to bring down the excitement in her voice.

Sesshomaru stared oddly at her, her little outburst was out of character for her. "I will do the same." He didn't care what he got, he wasn't a fan of ramen, and probably wouldn't have eaten much anyway.

The waiter confirmed their orders and excused himself to enter it, but Kikyo hadn't paid attention to him. "Yes, women throwing themselves at you."

"I don't go out often. Would it be arrogant of me if I say it's been a common thing for my family when we do go out?"

"Yes, it is arrogant." Kikyo hoped it didn't come out as harsh as it sounded.

"I can't help other people's actions, but I can help how I react to them. Does it bother you that I get that attention?"

"Other women wanting you doesn't bother me in the slightest." Liar. It bothered her. She just refused to believe why.

That wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear. It was discerning that she didn't care about the idea of other women and him. Kagura had always been a jealous woman, because she wanted him only for herself. A quality he didn't used to like, but that quality never belonged to a woman he was infatuated with.

"I see. I have reviewed our findings with my father, and I have a good suspicion about who is committing fraud within the company. I anticipate pressing charges depending on the feedback from the other attorneys."

"That's great, who do you think it is?"

"Regrettably, I can't tell you that. We have decided it was best that only the two of us knew about the matter."

"Oh, I guess I can understand that. So, I must ask. Does your father think me of a fool? The first time I met him was the night I tried to resign. I had planned my first encounter with him to go more professionally. I think about it often."

"Quite the contrary. My father has heard many positive things about you from around the office, and is aware of the work you've done on the files. He was disgruntled about you quitting and my letting you leave the office like that. Perhaps, sometime in the future, you can be properly introduced to him."

So, that was the real reason he had come to her apartment. His father? There was only one person on this earth capable of making Sesshomaru do things, and it was certainly Toga Taisho. In her opinion, she was safe to assume he hadn't wanted her back or needed anything from her. She was replaceable to him.

"Yes, I would look forward to the opportunity…" her disposition felt off and he picked up on the solemnness in her voice.

{…}

He had tried to get her to talk to him about things she would be interested to raise her spirits. Nothing had seemed to work and she had become distant from him. He didn't know where he went wrong during their dinner. The car ride and the last hour of work she spent to herself just focused on her work. Kikyo and him had too many fluctuations in their relationship. They never seemed to be on the same page, always one chapter ahead or behind the other.

"I've finished copying everything and made a comprehensive break down of everything we noted that was off about each of the files. I'll email it to you in the morning. Would you like for me to set the files on the desk this evening or tomorrow morning?"

She was deciding to finally speak, and tragically for him it was just about work. "You can leave the files in here. I will send an email out explaining what the files are for and then you can pass them out about 30 minutes after they've had time to roger up to me."

"Alright, then if there's nothing else you need of me. I should be heading home. It's almost 10." She was gathering up her work from off his desk.

He didn't want her to leave. He needed to say something, anything to get her to stay. "I'm impressed with your quality of work on this project." A compliment. He surely thought that was a good way to go, it was something he never did. However, she looked offended from his compliment. Now he was completely lost on how to proceed.

She was holding her work close to her chest with both arms, looking at the ground afraid to look at him. She was done tip toeing around him, trying to get an idea of what was on his mind. She needed to ask him for a straightforward answer. "Tell me, if you are so pleased with my performance, then why didn't you want me to stay?"

Didn't want her to stay? Had his compliment gone over her head? Where did she get this ridiculous impression from? There were many times he off-handedly complimented her work since she's been here. He figured she'd have been smart enough to realize that he treated her differently than any employee in this office. Than any woman in his life.

"I take your silence as you not wanting to tell me… I guess I'll be off then."

Sesshomaru quickly stood from his desk, causing his chair to roll into the window behind him. He walked around his desk to be closer to her, "Kikyo, I don't know where you're getting this misconception from?"

He was so close it made her heart stop. If she had moved an inch forward she would be against his chest, and if she moved to the balls of her feet she'd be kissing him. "Your father is the one who wanted me to stay, not you. Correct?"

"What an incredulous woman," he pinched the bridge of his nose using his other arm to support him at the elbow. He settled his hand on her shoulder, looking into her eyes with the sincerest expression he knew how to give.

"Kikyo, my father was upset you decided to leave but he was ok with whatever I wished. I went to your apartment that night, because I wanted you here with me."

Her heart felt like it jumped into her throat. She could hear her blood pumping in her ears. He was so close, there was only a step of distance between them. Gravity felt like it was pulling them together, and everything in her body tensed with anticipation from what she thought was going to happen.

"I don't believe I've met your new assistant?" the sound of Sesshomaru's office door swinging in and the shrill voice of a woman snapped them both out of their moment.

Without being too obvious Kikyo side stepped once more to give a little more distance between the two. Luckily he hadn't kissed her like she assumed was going to happen, and luckily neither had jumped at the sudden disturbance from this unknown woman. No one would have thought anything was going on, they acted as if there was nothing to know.

"Kagura. What are you doing here?" Any animosity he ever had for her was all spilling out through his words as he watched her ruin this moment.

Kagura? Kikyo had heard her name a few times, and recognized her as the woman who occasionally called to speak to Sesshomaru. Many men and women called to speak to him, and Kikyo never thought too much into why. It was a law firm, most of the time people didn't want to discuss the specifics of what they were calling about.

Kagura had strutted into the room up to Sesshomaru. She entangled her arm into his and kissed him on the cheek, "Does a wife need a reason to visit her husband?"

Wife? Kikyo's chest ached and her head was spinning. He was married? He never spoke of her. There were no pictures. No one in the office said anything. He wasn't even wearing a ring. This woman seemed to just appear out of nowhere. She studied his face and it was unreadable, drastically different than just moments before.

Kagura sized Kikyo up, looking her up and down, "How long have you been working here?"

Kikyo bowed quickly and reached her hand out to shake Kagura's, "I'm Kikyo Hatake, Mrs. Taisho. I've been Mr. Taisho's secretary for a few months now."

Kagura looked distastefully at Kikyo's hand, refusing to shake it, "A few months? Yes, I do recognize you as the woman answering the phone lately. I'm surprised Naraku hasn't fired you yet. He has a type you see. They're incredibly beautiful, but often… _simple-minded_, for lack of a better word. Once he's looked at them enough he gets rid of them for poor performance, and then on to the next."

Kikyo's blood was boiling. This woman had just insulted her, and the man who was about to smack lips with her was standing there in the audience. Was she staking her claim with Sesshomaru? Is this what she did to all the secretaries he had, and is this what he allowed? Kikyo let her arm fall back to her side in a clenched fist, digging her nails into the palm of her hands. With a forced smile, "I suppose I'm lucky, or maybe, not as _simple-minded_ as you think."

Sesshomaru couldn't help but inwardly smile at Kikyo's attitude. He wasn't too sure before, but now seeing her be her normal 'I don't take shit from anyone' self to his wife, made him realize he had feelings for her. As quickly as he realized it, he feared it wouldn't matter anymore. This is not how Kikyo was supposed to find out about him being married. It's not like he planned to lie to her about it, and trick her into believing he was single. It just happened.

"I see she has a tongue. I bet Naraku likes that."

He could see Kikyo reach her breaking point. He had to deescalate the situation immediately before he had an all-out cat fight in his office. For Kagura, she would have been fighting for Sesshomaru. It wasn't the same for Kikyo, she would have fought for her own dignity. She wasn't one to stand for being degraded. With that, she had nothing to lose except her own self-respect, and he was confident she probably would've been the victor.

"Kagura, I am just now finishing up. I will meet you at home, I have to close up the office."

"I was dropped off by a taxi, I was coming down here to make sure you'd come home with _me_. You worry about your work too much."

He could feel his own temperament rise, she was a truly wicked woman, "Here are my keys. Go wait downstairs in the car for me. Kikyo go start shutting down your computer so that we can finish up for the night."

'Shut down my computer?' Sesshomaru knew she hadn't turned her computer on the whole time since they'd gotten here. Perhaps he was trying to make sure she stayed so he could say something to her, but what was there to say? She certainly didn't want to speak to him about it. Yet, if she just stormed out without pretending to mess with her computer, would Kagura have assumed something was going on?

"I can wait for you up here Sesshomaru," Kagura eyed Kikyo as she spoke. She was not trusting of Kikyo.

Kikyo hadn't even waited for them to squabble about it. She went off to pretend to mess with her computer.

"Kagura you know I don't like you in my office messing around with things while I'm working. I will be down in 15 minutes' tops. Go wait." Kagura growled under her breath as she snatched the keys from him. She made her leave not before glaring at Kikyo on her way out.

Once Kikyo was sure Kagura had made it into the elevator she tried to make it out the door to the stairs before Sesshomaru stopped her. She wasn't fast enough and she felt him grab her arm, stopping her from her escape.

"Kikyo wait." He sounded desperate.

"Wait for what?"

"We need to talk."

"Talk? Talk about what? You're married. There's nothing to talk about. Nothing even happened for us to talk about, and nothing will ever happen for there to be something to talk about."

He tightened his hold on her, "Kikyo just stop. Look at me."

Against her wishes she turned around to face him, giving him a look that would have ended him if the world worked differently. "Speak your peace so I may go."

"I didn't want you to find out like this."

"So you were purposefully hiding her from me?"

"No, of course not. There was just never an appropriate time to mention her and you never asked if I was married."

Kikyo held up her arm to point to the hand grabbing her, "Then where is your ring?"

"I never wear my ring; you can ask anyone in the office that. You can ask anyone in the office that's been here more than a year, about Kagura, and they know she's my wife. She's not a secret. She comes into the office occasionally throughout the year."

"You never wear your ring? So, this is something you've done to all your other secretaries?"

He let her arm go, "No. I haven't done anything with my other secretaries or even done anything with you." He couldn't control it. He was getting angry with her. Why wouldn't she just calm down and listen to him?

"You're right. You've done nothing with me. So, what are we having this conversation for? What do you want from me?"

In that moment, his anger vanished. What did he want from her? He did almost break his vows, but that was the key word. Almost. He considered himself an honorable man, and in the five years he's been with Kagura he's never once cheated on her or considered it. This shouldn't be any different. He was a married man. Even if he was going to, it was clear that Kikyo wasn't going to help him. The question wasn't what he wanted from her, it's what he didn't want from her but had to deal with.

"I don't want anything from you Kikyo. I saw you were upset about meeting Kagura that way. I don't know if I've given you the wrong impression, but I was not implying I wanted to cheat on my wife."

She would have been upset either way. If he wanted her or not, but she didn't plan for it to hurt like it did. He was saying what was true to him. What did she expect? What did she want him to say? That he wanted her despite being with Kagura? To beg for her to understand him? She wasn't that kind of woman, and wasn't about to be that kind of woman now.

"No, Sesshomaru. I think I've given you the wrong impression. I am your secretary, and I have not implied or pursued any type of relationship other than that. Goodnight." Kikyo resumed her exit to the stairs. Her body ached all over, but she wasn't going to fall apart in the stairwell like this. She was going to go home and study.

Kagura watched Kikyo leave to her car. She couldn't decipher the mood she left in. She knew Sesshomaru had a new secretary, but she hadn't known that secretary looked like Kikyo. Kagura did get jealous over the women who got to spend time with Sesshomaru when she couldn't but she never felt insecure about herself until now. She didn't catch them in any scandalous act, but she felt that they were too comfortable when she walked in.

Shortly after Kikyo left, Sesshomaru had come out with his things. When he got into the car Kagura could sense his anger with her. She's suddenly dropped in on him before, throughout their life together. Today was the first time he's been angry with her about it, or with her in general. Usually he's just annoyed and bothered. Before he could start off on her she reached over the center counsel to grab Sesshoumaru's face and she kissed him.

He wasn't pleased with her today. He pushed her off him, "What are you doing Kagura? Explain yourself."

"Why are you so upset? You were ignoring all my calls and texts. You haven't stayed this late in a while without saying anything, and I was worried. I came to check on you."

"You came in and harassed my secretary." He hadn't stuck up for Kikyo earlier, but he was going to make up for it now.

"Why do you care?"

"Naraku has never once made a decent hire. Kikyo is the first promising secretary I've had, and she does everything perfectly. I don't need you coming in there and running her off because you feel threatened. My work is important, and is not something you can interfere with."

"I don't feel threatened," she hissed. She was lying, but she didn't want him to know that. "She's the one who got an attitude with me. Anyways, you should know better than to step out on me."

Has she gone insane? "I'd watch your threats woman. I've been a faithful husband, and you would know if I hadn't. Get off your high horse and be quiet for the rest of the ride. I'm done with you for the night."

Kagura bit her lip in anger. It hurt to have him so upset with her. She had always loved him and cherished him, there was no reason for him to treat her this way. Kikyo was the only catalyst. He was right though. He hadn't cheated on her, ever. He had done nothing adulterous tonight either. That's why she kissed him. To taste what he tasted like. To smell how he smelt. Nothing was different. Kikyo scent was lingering slightly, but all his secretaries did considering they worked closely together. None of this reassured her though. She felt like she already lost him.

Sesshomaru could sense Kagura's uneasiness with him. He had never been the doting concerned husband, and he wasn't going to start now. Even if he knew he was in the wrong. She didn't do anything wrong. She did occasionally drop in on him to take him home when it got too late. It always irritated him, but tonight was different. It was different because she had ruined everything with Kikyo. Their relationship would never be the same. He had accepted he couldn't pursue her in an intimate sense, but he still needed her in his life. She brought a sense of purpose in his life he had been missing. He pined for the smallest touch from her. If Kagura hadn't shown up, would he have discovered a whole new world in her lips. He would never find out now. It was all gone.


	7. Chapter 7

Sesshomaru ran his hands along her alabaster skin up onto her breast. He loved the way her body moved up and down on him, the way her breast bounced in circles, how she arched back to feel him deeper inside her. Her hair sprawled out behind her, tickling the parts of his legs it brushed against from her movements. He grabbed her hips helping her grind against him faster. The change in speed made her lean forward to grab onto his chest. Her nails slightly dug into his skin as her pleasure intensified and she bit her lower lip holding in the noises of her satisfaction. Suddenly, his body jerked violently.

Everything around him started to fade away, and he realized it had been a dream. He pulled up the covers to see his engorged cock begging to be played with. It was the first time he's had a sex dream about Kikyo. He figured it'd happen eventually, but not the following morning she found out about Kagura.

"Mmm, what do we have here?" a groggy voiced whispered in the dark.

Kagura. The last person he wanted to deal with right now; slid her hands down his abdomen to his member, grabbing it in her hands and gently squeezing. A sense of pleasure radiated through him. She would not have been his first choice on relieving him of his urge, but she was his wife and it wasn't wrong to sleep with your wife. Giving in to Kagura he pulled her on top of him. She wasted no time rubbing her own clit against his length to warm herself up. When she was properly wet she slid onto him. As she bounced around trying to please him, images of Kikyo clouded his mind. He knew it was Kagura, but he only saw Kikyo. His feelings were conflicted. Was he not allowed to enjoy this? If he enjoyed this would it create issues with his and Kagura's sex life down the road? Did this count as cheating?

Kagura climaxed, dramatizing how good it felt. She continued to ride him, in hopes of bringing him to his own climax. He suddenly felt guilty. He rolled her off him, "Don't worry about me." Her expression was enough warning for him to leave the room before he was stuck having a conversation he didn't want to be bothered with.

"I have to be in to work early today, it's time for me to get ready for work or I'll be late." Work was always a solid excuse for him. He was a workaholic, and the fact that he would rather be on time for work than climax, wasn't odd, to Kagura at least.

"Uh, ok. Will you be working late again?"

"I usually do, Kagura. You know that."

"Will your secretary being staying late with you again?"

He sighed frustratingly, "No Kagura. She doesn't stay late Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday. Stop pestering me with questions about Kikyo."

He skipped majority of his normal routine to leave the house before Kagura could question anything else about Kikyo. He would have nothing to hide, nothing ever happened. He had to keep reminding himself of that as well. When he got to work, he sat at his desk and stared at Kikyo's empty desk. She wasn't going to be in for another 45 minutes, and he wondered how it would be between them from now on.

Hesitantly, he tried to focus on getting his email out and getting some other work done. He didn't want to miss Kikyo coming into the office and judge how her mood was. When she came into his office to pass out the files, he wanted to be prepared with something to say to her. Nothing these days went his way, unfortunately. Naraku walked into his office just shy of 8 AM.

"Sesshomaru, I've heard and noticed you've been working on a lot of the cases from the beginning of this year. I can see all the crazy hours you've been overworking poor Kikyo. I can assist you in whatever it is you're trying to do. Just let me know what it is. I see all the files are back in the office since you took them, here let me take a few off your hands."

Naraku started walking to the table anticipating to grab a stack. Sesshomaru's stern voice stopped him touching them, "That's not necessary Narkau. If it's Kikyo's hours you're concerned about, she's agreed to them. I'm also sure a law student appreciates any extra money in her pockets. If that's not the real reason you're so interested, you still can digress. We've finished everything we needed, and there's no reason for you to concern yourself with it."

Naraku still hovered over the files staring at them intensely. When Sesshomaru started tapping on his desk with his fingers, he got the hint he wasn't welcome anymore. He lazily rose his arms in a half shrug as he walked out, "Ok boss. I was just trying to help you out. Oh, and I've been thinking about moving Kikyo to another floor, upon her request…" The tapping came to a halt.

"Naraku."

"Yes?"

"My father requests your presence in his office immediately."

Naraku nodded puzzled, "Uh, alright?"

Once he watched Naraku head out towards the elevators, he looked towards Kikyo's desk and she was already sitting down working, "Great." He hadn't known how long she'd been there since Naraku so casually interrupted him and dropped the bomb about Kikyo. Was that true? Did she request to be moved because of Kagura? That wouldn't do at all. Kikyo had spoiled him with her expertise, any other secretary wouldn't do at all.

When Kikyo got up from her desk to head his way, he realized he hadn't even thought of what to say. She didn't look upset, but she didn't look happy either. His heart slightly started palpitating faster. He was relieved, yet disappointed when Kikyo stopped halfway into his office as Manten passed by.

"Manten, wait." She released the door slightly to his dismay. He was hoping she'd stay so he could hear what she wanted with him. He had purposefully created his office soundproof. Both for keeping out insufferable gossip and prying ears. It was made with enhanced demon hearing in mind.

"Yea, Kikyo what's up?" Perfect, turns out he could hear after all, through the tiniest crack of her propping the door.

"I could really use the company tonight; would you mind stopping by? I'll have wine, and I'll make your favorite chicken confit."

Manten noticed her request sounded different. She was hurting. He gave her a hug and whispered in her ear, "Of course sweetheart, I'll be there after your class."

Sesshomaru's ears twitched. He observed how Manten's hands were dangerously low on her back and how he called her sweetheart. Since when did Kikyo cook, especially for another man, at that late hour? He knew well enough that her classes didn't end till 9 PM. She could really use the company? What did that mean? Was company another polite way for sex?

"Good morning sir, I'll just hand these out and be out of your way." Her stoic answer told him all he needed to know. She wasn't bothering with him in the slightest anymore.

"I thought you weren't dating Manten?" That certainly wasn't what he had wanted to say to her.

"I thought you weren't married?" While, she wasn't dating Manten, he didn't deserve to know any different. She grabbed as much as she could to make sure it'd take two-three trips tops.

He should've seen that one coming. Perhaps he should back off. If he tried to pry into her life it would only make her angrier and more confused. It would be good for him as well to distance himself from her. He's made the conscious decision to be a loyal husband, and if that was the case, he needed to do all he could to keep himself at bay.

It was harder than he thought watching her come in and out of his office grabbing the files. Not saying something to her every time she came in to his office was odd for him. Since this morning, and his unexpected wet dream, keeping from her was more of a task.

"All the attorneys have the files, and I double checked that they got your email instructions to review it privately. I told them all questions can be addressed to you, and to only give me the files back when they were done. As I said yesterday. I sent you the detailed report I have about this project. When they give me the files back I will compare it to what we copied to make sure that none of them were altered with. That and all their remarks about the case will be added onto the sheet I emailed to you, and as expected that will be emailed to you as well when it's done. Asuma is waiting on the line for you about his retainer balance. Also, Mr. Hirigashi from upstairs is requesting an appointment with you. He won't give me the details, but I am just going to add him into a free spot this week or maybe next week."

How could he lose her to another floor? He wouldn't let anyone else have her. "Why do you want to leave?"

"What? I'm leaving because I have work to do at my desk. Answer your phone call." Kikyo had no idea what he was talking about. She didn't think he'd expect her to stay and chat after last night.

'_That's not what I meant woman_.' This wasn't over for him. He'd find out why she wanted to leave and make sure it didn't happen. It couldn't possibly just be about Kagura. Kikyo was a professional woman, and even after the first incident with Manten she decided to stick with him.

{…}

Kikyo was finally home after 14 hours of being nonstop between work and school. She was relieved she only had this one class for the semester. All that overloading the first year paid off for her. She had prepped the chicken confit last night with hopes Manten would come over, it would be cooking and ready for him to eat when he was here. After setting the food in the oven, and grabbing the wine she heard a knock at the door. Manten poked his head in and smiled at her, "You ready for me?"

"Yes, of course, please come in. I was just grabbing the wine. The food's cooking, and should be ready in about 20 minutes."

"Yumm, I'm excited. I was looking forward to your cooking all day. What a shame you don't do it more."

"Thank you for the compliment. If it wasn't for the crazy hours I had been working the last few months, I probably would've cooked more. I typically try to cook once a week, and bake twice a week."

"Bake? Well, I definitely need to try some of that. Next time we do this, I want a cake."

Kikyo laughed. He was such a child in private. It was hard to see how he managed to be around Naraku without his head being ripped off. They were always giving each other a hard time, but they were stuck with each other.

Manten grabbed the glasses and poured a generous amount into the glasses, "I had the feeling something happened. What's got you so upset?"

"It's actually… about… Sesshomaru…" she didn't want to be judged.

"Sesshomaru? What do you mean? You two seemed to be getting along great. You get what he needs done, and that's the only thing he needs."

"Did you know he had a wife?"

"Wife? Yea of course, Kagura." He was taking an inelegant chug from his wine glass, when his eyes went wide. He started choking on the wine as he figured he knew why Kikyo was concerned about his wife.

"Have you been sleeping with him?"

Kikyo blushed, "No," it wasn't for the lack of wanting to or not thinking about it… but she'd never tell anyone that.

"Thank goodness. I mean, that would be a shock considering he's never given even a first thought about anyone. He doesn't even treat Kagura that well. Come to think of it, he's a lot nicer to you than her."

"How would you know that?"

"I was Sesshomaru's secretary at first, but when Naraku joined the team it was clear he couldn't have a female secretary after several failed attempts and close sexual harassment lawsuits. I was the only one they knew could deal with him, without having to worry about a new hire quitting. Kagura used to come in a lot more than now, but he never liked it. She was a witch towards everyone, especially his secretaries. She'd distract him from work and always tried to seduce him in front of everyone. It was uncomfortable. She is close with his mother, so maybe that's why he chose her. Honestly, I don't know. I never knew what he saw in her."

"I didn't know that you were his at first. I'm sorry you got stuck with Naraku. He's a vile man. I can't believe they've kept him around after all the trouble."

"Well, it wasn't like they just overlooked everything. Naraku's a clever man. There was never any proof; he had always managed to make sense of the situation and turn it into a misunderstanding. The lawsuits could never proceed and he was a good attorney himself. It's been a while since he's done anything jeopardizing like that. Perhaps he's learned his lesson. Anyway, why'd you want to know about Kagura."

"I met Kagura last night… I never slept with him, but I felt like we were connecting. It was very subtle. At first he was upset and treated me horribly when he thought you and I were together, but when I told him we weren't, our relationship headed down this drastically different path. He was softer with me, kinder in his own way. I didn't think anything of it, until last night. I thought he was going to kiss me, but then Kagura showed up. She had insulted me why he stood by and let her do it. Then when he sent her outside to wait for him, he tried to make it seem like it was just a coincidence I never found out. That he was never going to make a move on me. He kept repeating he had a wife."

Manten was blown away. This was the best gossip he's heard his whole life. He's known the Taisho's majority of his life, and that's how he got the job. He never interacted or met Sesshomaru much, but he knew everything about the man and his mannerisms. "Kikyo, this is huge. It would make sense. He never got mad at me about anything in all these years, and that one time in the break room. I had no idea what happened, but this makes sense. He's into you, but he can't have you cause of Kagura. He's big on his morals and ethics. He's always been like that, and I'm sure when he saw Kagura, it was a huge slap in the face for him."

"I was-am, so upset with him. It's not like I admitted to him that I felt any type of way towards him. I yelled at him about being just his secretary and will only ever be his secretary. I didn't want to hear him explain anything about the situation. I left as fast as I could. This morning was horrible; I just feel humiliated. It's like I've been imagining everything between us, and it was never real."

Manten caressed Kikyo's hand, "Hun, you shouldn't feel that way. For one, Sesshomaru explained himself to you. He cares what you think. Two, I don't think you were imagining it. Any vibes Sesshomaru was throwing out to you, must have been real. He's only every serious or angry. If you were getting happy, serene, or anything else, it was there for sure. He's not a vindictive man or out to purposefully hurt anyone, so I wouldn't stay too mad at him. I believe he was honest when he tried to explain that it all just happened this way. I can't tell you if he wanted you intimately, but I can assure you, you're more than just a secretary."

Manten's words did help reassure her. She would just have to let her anger die down and not hold any grudges towards him. It would be ridiculous of her to be angry at him for things that never happened or said allowed. It was like dreaming about your significant other for cheating on you and being mad at them for a dream. Except in this case, he wasn't even hers. He was someone else's, and she worked for him. As Manten said, he probably cared about her in the sense as he finally had someone capable to work with. He said it many times, now that she thought about it. He had never complimented anything else about her, except how well she was at her job. How stupid of her? Now she felt even more embarrassed. It was always and had always been about work with him. He couldn't possibly have been interested in her like that.

"Thanks Manten. Let's eat."


End file.
